Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman says that if he unseats Gov. Kathy Hochul, his first act in office would be a statewide ban on transgender students using girls' bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations in New York's public schools. The Republican gubernatorial hopeful calls the plan the Protect Our Daughters initiative, and says it would cover students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Blakeman revealed the proposal in an interview with the New York Post, saying the plan would reserve girls' bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations for biological females, and would bar biological males who have transitioned to female from rooming with girls on overnight school trips. He said the initiative would take effect on his first day as governor and framed it as part of a broader push to keep what he described as biological men out of girls' sports and bathrooms.
Representatives for Blakeman told the Post that the pledge would apply statewide to public school students from kindergarten through 12th grade, but did not specify how the measure would actually be enforced, per the same report. Blakeman also said he would move to protect local school boards from state overreach and would try to bar Albany legislators from stripping funds or issuing sanctions against districts that exclude transgender students from girls' sports.
A Policy With No Details Yet
The proposal lands as Blakeman's broader campaign has offered little in the way of specifics. POLITICO reported that the Nassau County executive's campaign website does not have a policy section, and noted that his representatives have not specified how the bathroom measure would be enforced.
Albany sources told the Post that the proposal would face an uphill battle in the state Legislature, which controls the state Education Department. Blakeman accused Hochul of prioritizing a political agenda over girls' safety, privacy and dignity, according to the same report. Hochul, who is New York's governor, did not respond to requests for comment, per the Post's reporting.
New York State Democratic Party spokesperson Addison Dick criticized the plan, saying Blakeman is using an old Trump playbook and is seeking attention for a failing campaign. A Siena College poll from late September showed Blakeman trailing Hochul by nine percentage points in the governor's race, a smaller gap than Hochul held over Lee Zeldin at the same point in the 2022 campaign.
Long Island School Boards Already Tested This Fight
Blakeman's proposal mirrors fights already playing out in Long Island school districts. The Massapequa school board unanimously passed a resolution in September 2025 requiring students to use restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their sex, citing Title IX and federal law, according to Newsday. That policy offered students requesting an alternative arrangement access to a designated gender-neutral facility, but barred them from facilities designated for the opposite sex.
The NYCLU appealed the Massapequa policy to State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa on behalf of a transgender student, Newsday reported. New York state subsequently issued a stay preventing the district from enforcing its policy, according to News 12 Long Island. The state Education Department also struck down a similar rule approved by the Locust Valley school board, which News 12 identified as the second Long Island district to adopt such a policy; both Locust Valley and Massapequa agreed to continue offering gender-neutral facilities.
Buffalo has taken a different approach. The district's school board adopted a seven-page policy allowing transgender students to use restrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities consistent with their gender identity, according to The Buffalo News, which quoted state officials describing the Dignity for All Students Act as prohibiting discrimination and harassment on school grounds or at school functions.
An Issue Blakeman Has Pushed Before
This is not Blakeman's first move on the issue. He previously issued an executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports on Nassau County-run properties in 2024, according to City & State New York. That outlet reported that a Siena College poll from that April found 66% of New Yorkers supported having high school athletes compete only against others of the same sex assigned at birth, while a separate Siena and Newsday poll found 53% of Long Islanders supported Blakeman's athletics order.
A Manhattan Community Education Council resolution separately sought review of a 2019 city policy allowing transgender athletes to participate on teams aligned with their gender identity, per the same report.
National polling suggests the issue cuts across party lines in a way that differs from many culture-war fights. A Pew Research Center analysis from August found that almost three-quarters of Americans oppose transgender women competing against female athletes, with Republicans and Democrats largely united in that opposition, according to the dossier's polling findings tied to that period.
Whether Blakeman's statewide bathroom plan could ever take effect remains an open question. His own aides have not detailed an enforcement mechanism, and Albany insiders quoted by the Post suggested the measure would struggle to clear a Legislature that oversees the state Education Department — the same agency that has already blocked similar local rules on Long Island.
