Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is the County Executive of Nassau County in New York and he has been all over the news recently due to his decisive action to sign an executive order at the end of February last month that would ban males, right, left, and men from competing against females.
00:00:00.800When holiday prep means cleaning every corner, reach for Pine Soul Original Pine.
00:00:06.280Pine Soul is the only one you need for multiple surfaces, cleaning floors, counters, stoves, toilets, and showers, while killing 99.9% of germs.
00:00:16.620With long-lasting freshness and an iconic pine scent, it's sure to give you that fresh holiday feeling.
00:00:22.620Shop now and get your home holiday ready with Pine Soul. Use as directed.
00:00:30.000Welcome back to the Gains for Girls podcast.
00:00:39.240Today's guest is Executive Bruce Blakeman.
00:00:42.620He is the county executive of Nassau County in New York, and he has been all over the news recently due to his decisive action to sign an executive order at the end of February last month
00:00:53.860that would ban males, right, boys, and men from competing against females.
00:02:07.220But feelings and identity are more important than winning.
00:02:10.340Or even some people I've seen say there are no proven physical differences between men and women anyways.
00:02:17.020But you and I, of course, we both know that that's not true.
00:02:20.120So I can list off probably about 100 examples of this happening in your neck of the woods at all levels.
00:02:27.420If we're just looking at college, for example, just this past week, I found out about a male rower rowing on the women's team at Ithaca College.
00:02:35.680Sadie Schreiner has gained national attention recently for becoming the regional meat record holder and now qualifying for NCAA championships at RIT in Rochester,
00:02:45.480displacing multiple women in the process.
00:02:48.600So really all of that to say that it is happening, which is why we're so grateful for you and your leadership and willingness to defend not only the opportunities of female athletes, but also the safety.
00:03:00.580So I kind of just wanted to get your perspective.
00:03:02.800You know, what was your thought process for signing your executive order?
00:03:08.000Well, first of all, let me just say thank you for your advocacy and your courage, Riley, because if it wasn't for you and people like you, women and girls around the country, they would get away with this.
00:03:21.800This is nothing more than bullying of girls and women.
00:03:25.520I don't know why biological males who identify themselves as transgender females feel the necessity that they have to compete against girls and women when they're bigger, stronger and faster, typically.
00:03:39.960And they're using locker rooms that are supposed to be for girls and women, which creates an unsafe atmosphere and an insecure atmosphere.
00:03:50.300And there's the element of fairness and a level playing field.
00:03:53.840Women have been fighting for decades for their rights, for fairness in all things, but especially in sports.
00:03:59.940And they are protected under the Constitution of the United States.
00:04:04.540And this is an assault on women and girls.
00:04:10.220I felt that it was a safety issue in my county.
00:04:12.620And I wanted to be very clear to the leagues and teams in Nassau County that if you advertise yourself or you identify yourself as an all-girls team, an all-woman's team,
00:04:23.260that you would not be able to use our facilities here in the county unless you excluded biological males.
00:04:31.580And by the way, this is not anti-transgender.
00:04:35.900We welcome all people of every lifestyle in Nassau County.
00:04:41.220Transgender biological males have the ability and their permission to compete in all male teams and leagues or co-ed teams and leagues.
00:04:52.100Or if they want to form a transgender biological male league or team, they're welcome to do so.
00:05:06.840I watched your press conference and that was what I noticed, right, is all you're really doing here is calling for transparency, which I love.
00:05:15.660I think that's an incredibly effective way and really how a lot of us feel.
00:06:25.040But she uses the phrase of marginalized communities.
00:06:30.340But do you think someone like Letitia James is forgetting that just 50 short years ago, before 52, I guess, before Title IX was implemented, that women have historically been a marginalized community?
00:06:42.480And what we're seeing now is males trample on our rights.
00:07:16.720So I'm being threatened with a lawsuit by or other nefarious things that the Attorney General will do to me in Nassau County if we continue this policy.
00:07:28.220But I will have a formal written response for the Attorney General this week within the time frame that she set forth in her letter.
00:07:38.220And I would hope that the Attorney General has an open mind and realizes that basically, according to the Constitution and the law, and just common sense, that she would back our executive order and realize there's nothing transphobic about it.
00:08:13.160There is a difference between males and females when it comes to physical anatomy and biology.
00:08:19.600And basically, it's a situation where we recognize that males are bigger, stronger, and faster, typically, and that that's why we have women in a classification, which is an approved classification.
00:08:33.500It's a federalized classification, as you said, under Title IX, that allows them to compete fairly amongst each others.
00:08:41.640And let me say something about these transgender males, these biological males who are transgender females.
00:08:56.240And not to mention, look, I don't want to dilute the complexity of gender dysphoria or what that really entails, but the systems that we have in place and the systems that Letitia James, attorney general, are advocating for would leave it up to men, opportunistic men, to totally take advantage of these systems, right?
00:09:21.260What man wouldn't want to have the opportunity to win a national title all while going in the women's locker room in the process?
00:09:30.200And like you said, this really is a winning issue.
00:09:35.460Well, it's also an economic issue because it's an economic issue for women, and it's a fairness issue for women.
00:09:44.940So basically, to play in a professional sport or to get a college scholarship, this is something where women, if they compete against each other, it's fair, and they both have an equal opportunity to get a college scholarship or to compete on a professional level.
00:10:04.760But by a biological male injecting themselves onto one of those teams, they're going to take women's scholarships away.
00:10:13.900They're going to take positions on professional teams away from women.
00:10:16.780And all of the opportunity, all of the equality, all of the economic gains that women have been making in sports, I think, are in jeopardy.
00:10:49.640Your EO, it doesn't require legislative approval, meaning it's in effect now.
00:10:54.540But like you said, that doesn't mean it can't be legally challenged.
00:10:58.420And someone like Letitia James, who threatens decisive legal action, is likely to go through with it.
00:11:04.200As of recently, I saw she was one of, I think, 18 attorney generals to sign on in opposition of the cake shop.
00:11:11.060I think it's called Masterpiece Cake Shop in Colorado.
00:11:14.400The owner's decision to deny service and make a cake that would celebrate a male's transition to identifying as a woman.
00:11:22.180Everyone, of course, has seen how hard she has come after President Trump as well.
00:11:28.860And you mentioned she has now sent you a cease and desist.
00:11:33.440But if I'm not mistaken, you were an attorney as well.
00:11:37.240Are there any legal grounds for her action?
00:11:40.680Are you nervous with the district court that you're in specifically?
00:11:44.640And will you abide by her cease and desist?
00:11:48.660Well, again, we still have the lawyers working on a formal written response to the attorney general.
00:11:54.580I think that's the appropriate way to address it so that we are able to set forth and articulate the rationale and reasons for the executive order,
00:12:03.520which we believe are legal and constitutional.
00:12:06.000But, again, if this ends up in court, then basically a judge will make a determination.
00:12:15.120And we are a law-abiding county, and I believe in the rule of law.
00:12:22.340Right now, I'm pretty confident that if it comes up to judicial review, that the courts will side with our executive order because we believe it's constitutional.
00:12:36.280We actually believe we're supporting the Constitution and the federal laws that are in place.
00:12:40.440We have not seen a Title IX case or something of the sort make it all the way to the Supreme Court, which, of course, is unfortunate.
00:12:48.980Any case of this caliber would have to make it to that level.
00:12:52.560But I agree in saying that I believe that the Supreme Court would certainly rule in favor of the Constitution and of common sense and truth.
00:13:01.560So many people act out of fear of not wanting to get sued, like the NCAA, like the IOC, like a lot of these states, even a lot of Republican members of different state legislatures.
00:13:17.400So why do you think it is that people aren't considering the fact that a lawsuit can certainly both go or go both ways?
00:13:25.640For example, right, let's say in the state of New York, outside of your county, there's a girl in middle school or high school, a basketball game or volleyball game or hockey game, and she's seriously injured by a man.
00:13:38.120In this scenario, would she not have every right to sue?
00:13:42.440Because it doesn't seem people are considering it going this way.
00:14:04.600Our gross domestic product is larger than 144 nations in the United Nations.
00:14:08.920So when we stand up for something, it means something.
00:14:11.820And when I raised my hand and put my hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States, I took that oath seriously.
00:14:20.680And I believe that what I'm doing is constitutional.
00:14:25.000And I believe what the other side is doing is unconstitutional and illegal under federal law.
00:14:32.580So, again, this may have to play out in the courts.
00:14:36.360Hey, I wish Letitia James would give me a call today and say, let's sit down and work this out and see if we can come up with something reasonable.
00:14:43.260But to call me a transphobic when that's completely false, to say that this is something that we're doing to support some national political agenda.
00:14:55.000I've heard from more Democrats in the last couple of weeks in support of what we're doing here than I've ever heard on any subject.
00:15:05.640If you are a woman, if you're a mom, if you're a dad, this is something that's near and dear to you.
00:15:21.820There has been a ton of support and encouragement and gratitude from people who would consider themselves lifelong liberals who probably voted for people like your governor or for President Biden.
00:15:36.120Why do you think that others in your same position who feel the same way that you do and I do, why do you feel these people are silent?
00:15:45.220Well, unfortunately, I think there's a tremendous lack of courage in this country because the folks on the other side of the political equation that are pushing a far left, progressive, socialist, woke agenda are vicious.
00:16:03.420They're nasty people and they don't want to have civil discourse and debate on public policy.
00:16:11.040They just want to destroy people. And you know what? I didn't take this job to play it safe.
00:16:16.880I took this job to do the right thing, uphold the Constitution, make sure that our laws are adhered to and to protect people who are vulnerable.
00:16:26.200And if they're going to attack me for that, so be it.
00:16:30.280I'll I'll be more than happy to deal with whatever consequences may come down the road because I think I'm doing the right thing.
00:17:05.540I think we have till Friday to respond to the attorney general.
00:17:10.200And again, I think we need to put forth a well-reasoned, articulate legal argument for what we did.
00:17:18.560And I believe that we do have that argument.
00:17:20.420And we want to make sure that we are very clear in our message that this is to protect women and girls and and to protect women's sports and women's athletics and that this is not anything that is transphobic or or anti transgender.
00:17:40.680You know, again, in Nassau County, we love all people of all lifestyles.
00:17:45.320I don't want to get into people's personal business, but it's those bullies that are making it a public business right now.
00:17:53.360And if I think they're wrong, I'm going to stand out.
00:17:57.280And I think this is bullying of women and girls.
00:17:59.180And I'm not I'm not going to stand on the sidelines and be silent.
00:18:02.220I think bullies is a perfect way to describe this.
00:18:05.920We will certainly help amplify your response when it is made public.
00:18:10.320Again, we could not be more grateful for you and your team and your leadership, especially in the environment to which you're in in New York and one of the largest counties.