Seeing Political Gain, Georgia Lawmakers Push Ahead With Anti-Trans Sports Restrictions
Lawmakers in Georgia push to ban trans kids from school sports, with the intention of banning them from private school sports and collegiate sports as well.
by Mira Lazine
Georgia lawmakers, seeing continued political gain in pushing anti-transgender legislation, have moved ahead with a series of policy recommendations that would seek to segregate sport on the basis of what they call “biological sex at birth.”
The set of five policy commendations, adopted unanimously by a special Senate committee on Friday, provides a framework for the legislature to codify anti-transgender restrictions into law next year. Members of the committee have already readied bills that their colleagues are expected to consider when the next legislative session begins on Jan. 13.
Many of the committee’s recommendations already comport with established policy. In 2022, the Georgia High School Association banned transgender youths from playing on public school sports teams aligned with their gender, a step taken at the direct encouragement of legislators at the time.
But the Senate committee goes much further in two important respects: It seeks to decisively wrest policy-making from school athletic associations and place it in the hands of state representatives, saying the state has “the authority to withhold state funding from schools that fail or refuse to abide by these rules.” The committee’s plan also seeks to extend anti-trans restrictions to private schools and collegiate sports.
“Banning trans kids from participating is cruel and will deprive them of many lifelong opportunities,” Sasha Buchert, a senior attorney with the civil rights organization Lambda Legal, said during the committee’s hearings this fall. “They’re going to be robbed and that is going to have long-term negative impacts on their health and their overall wellbeing.”
But the unanimity of the Senate committee’s decision points to the difficult political path ahead for transgender people in Georgia and elsewhere. Two Democrats – Freddie Powell Sims and Sheikh Rahman, both of whom had supported trans rights in the past – went along with the Republican majority last week.
At least 26 states nationwide have now enacted anti-transgender restrictions on school sports.
The Senate committee’s decision, in many respects, was hardly a surprise. The committee telegraphed its intentions during hearings this fall that were dominated by anti-trans speakers, including the activist Riley Gaines and representatives from the Alliance Defending Freedom.
As Assigned Media previously reported, the group Frontline Policy Action also made significant inroads in lobbying the Georgia state government, going as far as drafting legislative language to bar trans athletes. Frontline hailed the committee’s vote last week in a tweet that claimed “momentum on this issue continues to grow.”
Toni-Michelle Williams, executive director of the nonprofit civil rights group Solutions Not Punishment, had taken note of these anti-trans political winds during last fall’s hearings, urging legislators not to exploit young people to score political points.
“Attempting to create these blanket bans is nonsensical,” Williams said, “because schools and athletic departments already have protections set in place to allow for even playing fields.”
In Georgia, though, a codified ban has an ally: Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has expressed general support for the legislation.
Mira Lazine is a freelance journalist covering transgender issues, politics, and science. She can be found on Twitter, Mastodon, and BlueSky, @MiraLazine