Georgia Republicans recommend additional law to restrict transgender women’s participation in sports

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Senate Republicans recommended Friday that the state draft laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in high school and college sports, paving the way for action in the 2025 legislative session.

The vote by a commission studying the issue is hardly a surprise. Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones – a possible Republican candidate for governor in 2026 – announced almost identical goals during the first meeting of the panel in August.

This is an issue that has already been addressed in Georgia. In 2022, lawmakers empowered the Georgia High School Association to regulate transgender student participation in sports. The association, which regulates the sports and activities of all public schools and some private schools, then banned prevent transgender boys and girls from playing on school sports teams corresponding to their gender identity.

Jones and others argue that doesn’t go far enough and that lawmakers themselves need to act. It’s a sign that Republicans believe there is more political gain in fears about transgender women playing women’s sports or using women’s restrooms.

At least 26 majority Republican states have passed laws or rules to prevent transgender girls from participating in high school sports and, in some cases, transgender women from college sportsaccording to the Movement Advancement Project, a gay rights group.

In Georgia, additional measures now appear more likely after House Speaker Jon Burns and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans, expressed support for new laws.

Jeff Graham, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Georgia Equality, said his group is playing defense, concerned about the possibility of other bills that could further restrict gender-affirming care or ban transgender people to use public toilets that match their gender identity.

“We expect it to be at least what we saw in 2023 and 2024, with the number of bills and more than likely laws,” Graham told reporters Friday.

But Burns, of Newington, said he isn’t interested in other bills dealing with transgender people outside of those dealing with women’s and girls’ sports. Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming, who led the Senate study committee, said Friday that he, too, was not interested in a broader bill regulating bathroom use, although his committee recommended that schools hosting sporting events require athletes to use lockers. rooms according to the sex assigned to them at birth.

Dolezal said senators would seek to draft legislation regulating public schools and colleges, as well as private institutions that compete with public schools and colleges. The committee also recommends that people be able to sue or file complaints if schools violate the rules, and that state money be withheld for schools that violate the rules.

Advocates for more action have focused on the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won the 500 meter freestyle.

The NCAA has since revised its policy on transgender women’s participation, saying it would follow the rules of the respective athletics federations. World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming, transgender women banned who went through male puberty after competing in women’s races. This means Thomas would not be allowed to swim in NCAA events today.

“My fundamental argument that this is a solution in search of a problem remains,” Graham said. He said he worries that many people who oppose laws aimed at restricting transgender people are afraid to testify and lobby at the Georgia Capitol. citing assault charges against man accused of shaking U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in Capitol office building in Washington, D.C.

Dolezal repeatedly tried to tone down the emotional tone of the question Friday.

“I think there is a group of people who want to be respected and I think they deserve respect,” Dolezal told reporters. “But I also think it is possible to be respectful, but also to recognize that in sports, fairness and competition are important.”