Following desperate last-minute appeals, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday provided a “narrow exemption” to his North Carolina travel ban so young Staten Island track and field stars can compete in the National Junior Olympics next week.
The athletes and their parents were told by Parks Department officials at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Tuesday that they might have to skip the event in Greensboro because of the New York City’s 2016 ban on non-essential travel to the Tar Heel state to protest its anti- LGBT policies.
The young competitors belonged to the Wave Runners track club, which is coached by employees of the Parks Department.
Parents said the kids wouldn’t be allowed to compete without their coaches.
“We were devastated when we heard this. The kids are caught in the middle of a political issue that has nothing to do with them,” said Anjaill Ameen-Rice, whose daughter, Eva, 12 qualified for the 4-by-100 meter relay race.
The games run from July 23-29.
More than a dozen of the Staten Island youngsters qualified.
In 2016, the North Carolina legislature passed a controversial “bathroom bill” that barred transgender students from using the restroom of their preferred gender.
The law was repealed in 2017, but critics say the state’s laws still fail to protect LGBT residents.
“The travel ban is important. But the mayor’s going to extend a narrow exemption so these kids can make the trip and compete. Good luck!” said mayoral spokesman Eric Phillips.
Staten Island officials said the kids shouldn’t have become pawns in the government feud in the first place.
City Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-SI) called the travel ban “progressivism gone amok.”
Officials said the ban has been lifted three times before for one city employee for legal reasons.