Caitlyn Jenner supports New York County's ban on trans women competing on women's sports teams

Former Olympic gold medal champion Caitlyn Jenner She came out in support of New York County's ban on girls' and women's sports teams featuring transgender athletes from using county public facilities, saying transgender athletes should not be able to compete in women's sports.

“Trans women are competing against women, taking valuable opportunities for a class long protected under Title IX and causing physical harm,” Jenner said Monday at a news conference in Mineola, New York, with the Nassau County Executive. Bruce BlackmanWho signed the executive order on February 22.

Jenner, 74, who won the men's decathlon at the 1976 Olympics, came out as a transgender woman in 2015, and has been a vocal critic of trans women competing in women's sports ever since. 2021. Since 2020, Half of the states have passed laws or regulations Which prohibits trans student-athletes from competing on women's school sports teams, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ research center.

in Share on X Jenner said on Saturday that she felt compelled to speak out about the issue as a transgender woman to show that “it's biological, it's not about exclusion or intolerance.”

In an interview with NBC News, David Kilmnick, president of the LGBT Network of New York, a non-profit organization for gays in Long Island and Queens, called Jenner's support “a puzzling contradiction to her own identity.” He said he feared a high-profile athlete who supported Blackman's ban would contribute to bullying of transgender youth.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and State Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, Speak out Against the ban, Blakeman, a Republican, was accused of bullying transgender youth.

James appealed the order in court on March 1 with “Electronic cease and desist“, demanding that Blackman rescind the order, arguing that it violates the state's anti-discrimination laws. In doing so, she called the order “Transphobia” She said she subjects women's and girls' sports teams to “invasive interrogation.”

Blackman's legal team filed its own report lawsuit On March 5 he claimed that a “cease and desist” letter sent by James violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“Not only was the executive order legal, we had an obligation to defend it,” Blackman said Monday.

Blackman defended the ban — which covers more than 100 county-owned facilities — as necessary to protect girls and women from being harmed while playing sports. This procedure does not apply to men's sports teams.

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Nassau County last week, alleging that Blakeman's executive order discriminates on the basis of gender identity.

The NYCLU represents the Nassau County Women's Derby League, which welcomes trans women and will be banned from using county facilities under Blackman's executive order.

“Trans people who play sports need support and affirmation, not to be a political target,” NYCLU attorney Gabriela Larios said in a statement. “Nassau County’s cynical attempt to keep them out of public spaces is a blatant violation of our state’s civil and human rights laws.”

Blackman said Monday that the same legal team defending against James' “cease and desist” letter will fight the NYCLU's lawsuit.

Kilmnik of the LGBT Network of New York said sports governing bodies should be free to set their own standards on the issue of how and whether transgender women should compete against cisgender women, not the government.

“It's very dangerous when the government starts banning groups of people and telling them what they can and can't do,” Kilimnik said. “We have already gone down this path in our history, and it is dangerous to do so again.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com