Georgia Moves to Ban Transgender Athletes from Women’s Sports in Initial Vote

ATLANTA – On Thursday, Georgia Republicans started working on a plan to prevent transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. This move is partly in response to the 2022 NCAA swimming championships held at Georgia Tech.

Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, won a national title in the 500 meters and shared a changing room with other female athletes during the event. The event started Riley Gaines’ advocacy career. She was a swimmer at the University of Kentucky and has since become a leading voice for conservative groups trying to limit transgender involvement in sports.

The state Senate’s Education and Youth Committee voted on Thursday to move forward with a bill that would prevent transgender athletes from participating with women in high school and college sports.

This is the first step in a long law-making process, but Republicans have said that passing the bill is important to them before they finish their session in April. They have control of both parts of the state Legislature, but might still get some votes from Democrats. State Senator Freddie Powell Sims from Dawson voted for the bill on Thursday.

State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming and the main supporter of the bill, said, “If a sport is open to both men and women, men will take over.” “We set limits in women’s sports to exclude those who have an advantage from being male.”

The Georgia High School Association already does not allow transgender sports to compete with girls. The International Swimming Federation’s rules also apply to NCAA events. This means that when Georgia Tech holds the NCAA swimming and diving championships in 2026, transgender athletes will not be able to compete with women.

Republican politicians are cautious about giving up their power to groups they can’t control. Additionally, this problem gives Republicans a simple way to gain support as they seek higher positions. This includes Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is supported by President Donald Trump and may run for governor in 2026. Jones set up a special committee to look into the problem last year. A poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution released this month found that 60% of people strongly support limiting transgender sports.

There are very few transgender players in sports everywhere, which has led some critics to argue that Georgia Republicans are trying to solve a problem that isn’t real. But more than that, LGBTQ+ supporters 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 State Board of Education member wrongly claimed on Facebook that a female basketball player was transgender. The kid received threats and was bullied online.

“This bill will send a statewide group of newly appointed gender police to monitor all girls,” said Carl Charles, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ+ support organization.

Also, the bill could annoy the NCAA, which has a track record of canceling title events over disagreements on policies. Georgia has held several NCAA championship events, like the College Football Playoff and March Madness.