Georgia Republicans on Thursday took their first step toward banning transgender athletes from competing against women, a measure partly in response to the 2022 NCAA national swimming championships held at Georgia Tech.
Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, won a national title in the 500 meters during that competition while sharing a locker room with other female athletes. The event ended up launching the advocacy career of Riley Gaines, who at the time was a swimmer at the University of Kentucky and has since been the face of conservative efforts to curtail transgender participation in sports.
The Education and Youth Committee in the state Senate voted Thursday to advance a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing against women in both high school and college sports. It’s the first step in a lengthy legislative process, but Republicans have said passing the bill is a priority for them before they adjourn in April. They control both chambers of the state Legislature, but could still attract votes from some Democrats. State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, voted for the bill on Thursday.
“If you have a sport open to members of both sexes, it will be dominated by men,” said state Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming and the primary sponsor of the bill. “We put a boundary around women sports that exclude those who have male advantage.”
The Georgia High School Association already bans transgender athletes from competing against girls. So does the International Swimming Federation, whose rules apply to NCAA competitions. That means when Georgia Tech hosts the NCAA swimming and diving championships again in 2026, transgender athletes won’t be allowed to compete against women.
Still, Republican lawmakers are wary of deferring their power to entities they don’t control. Plus, the issue offers an easy political win for Republicans aiming for higher office. That includes Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a favorite of President Donald Trump and a likely candidate for governor in 2026. It was Jones who created a special committee to study the issue last year. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll published earlier this month showed 60% strongly favor restricting transgender athletes.
Transgender athletes are rare in sports at all levels, prompting critics to say Georgia Republicans are trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. But more than that, LGBTQ+ advocates worry the law will embolden people to falsely accuse female athletes of being transgender simply because they are bigger and stronger than their peers.
In Utah, a former member of the State Board of Education falsely accused a female basketball player of being transgender by posting about it on Facebook. The student was targeted by threats and harassment online.
“Under this bill, all girls will be targeted by a statewide army by newly deputized gender police,” said Carl Charles, an attorney with Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
Plus, the bill risks irking the NCAA, which has a history of withholding championship events because of policy disputes. Georgia has hosted multiple NCAA championship events, including the College Football Playoff and March Madness.
“My concern is that we’re putting all of that at risk over a problem that doesn’t really exist,” said state Sen. Sonya Halpern, D-Atlanta.
Her argument wasn’t enough to persuade her colleagues, including Sims, who joined the Republicans in voting for the bill.
“I am not willing to lay safety and fairness at the altar of the American dollar,” Dolezal said.
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