Young track and field stars on Staten Island have been told they might not be able to compete in the National Junior Olympics in Greensboro, NC, next week because of the city’s travel ban to the Tar Heel State over its controversial LGBT policies.
Parks Department officials at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex told parents of the Wave Runners track club on Tuesday that travel for the athletes’ coaches has not been approved by the de Blasio administration because of the 2016 travel ban.
If the coaches can’t go, the athletes won’t be able to compete, according to parents.
The coaches work for the Parks Department.
“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.
“We’re just seeking a variance so the children can compete in the event.”
The games run from July 23 to 29.
More than a dozen students from the Wave Runners 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The law was repealed in 2017 following a public backlash, but critics argue the state’s laws still fail to protect LGBT residents.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office confirmed that the travel ban to North Carolina remains in effect.
“It is. We’re reviewing this case,” City Hall spokesman Eric Phillips said Wednesday.
Staten Island officials are furious that local athletes have gotten caught up in the government-to-government fight.
“I find it both outrageous and disheartening that these children, who have worked so hard to compete nationally in track and filed, are being stripped of an opportunity to participate in the Junior Olympics due to politicians,” Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-S.I.) said in a letter to de Blasio.