Georgia Republicans recommend further law to restrict transgender women's participation in sports

ATLANTA — Georgia Senate Republicans recommended on Friday that the state write laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in high school and college sports, setting the stage for action in the 2025 legislative session.

The vote by a committee that was studying the issue is hardly a surprise. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — a possible Republican contender for governor in 2026 — announced almost identical goals at the panel's first meeting in August.

It's an issue that's already been addressed in Georgia. Legislators in 2022 empowered the Georgia High School Association to regulate transgender students' participation in sports. The association, which regulates sports and activities for all public schools and some private schools, then banned transgender boys and girls from playing on the school sports teams matching their gender identity.

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

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

In Georgia, additional action appears more likely now after House Speaker Jon Burns and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans, have voiced support for further legislation.

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 from using public bathrooms that match their gender identity.

''We're expecting that it'll 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, from Newington, has said he's not interested in other bills dealing with transgender people besides those dealing with girls' and women's sports. Republican State Sen. Greg Dolezal, of Cumming, who led the Senate study committee, said Friday that he, too, is not interested in a broader bill regulating bathroom usage, although his committee recommended that schools that host sporting events require athletes to use locker rooms based on their assigned sex at birth.

Dolezal said senators would seek to write legislation that regulated public schools and colleges, as well as private institutions that compete against public schools and colleges. The committee also recommends that people be able to sue or file grievances if schools break the rules, and that state money be withheld from schools that break the rules.

Supporters of 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 will follow the rules of respective athletics federations. World Aquatics, the swimming governing body, banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women's races. That means Thomas wouldn't be allowed to swim in NCAA events today.

''My basic contention that this is a solution in search of a problem remains,'' Graham said. He said he fears that many people who oppose laws that seek to restrict transgender people will be afraid to testify and lobby at the Georgia Capitol, citing assault charges against a man accused of shaking U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in a Capitol office building in Washington, D.C.

Dolezal repeatedly tried to turn down the emotional temperature of the issue on Friday.

''I think that there's a group of people that wants to be respected and I think that they deserve respect,'' Dolezal told reporters. ''But I also think that you can be respectful, but also recognize that in the sporting arena, fairness and competition is important.''