If you’ve driven around Sullivan County, or anywhere in upstate New York, in the past few weeks, you’ve likely seen at least a few yard signs calling on you to “protect girls sports” by voting against proposition 1 on the ballot. 

Here’s the good news. 

Girls’ sports are already safe.

Prop 1 will only serve to enhance that safety. 

New York already has protections for athletes to compete in youth sports on teams that align with their gender identity. 

Prop 1 on the ballot New Yorkers will face this election doesn’t change existing law. 

Nor does it say a word about youth sports. 

The proposal on the ballot will strengthen anti-discrimination protections that already exist by adding them to the New York State Constitution. 

More specifically, the proposition we’ll all vote on in a few weeks will change section 11 of article 1 of the state’s constitution. 

Currently, New Yorkers are protected from “unequal treatment based on race, color, creed, and religion,” according to our current constitution, while other rights are covered in various policies and laws — including the state’s human rights law — but not enshrined in the constitution itself. 

According to the New York Board of Elections, Prop 1 will amend the language to state “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this state or any subdivision thereof. No person shall, because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, be subjected to any discrimination in [strike: his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law.”

There it is. Equal rights for all New York citizens. 

Now we can all go back to spending our Saturdays and Sundays watching women play college and professional sports on the major TV networks, right?

Oh. Wait ...