Georgia Senate Republicans push to further restrict trans women in sports

August 28th, 2024

The Georgia State Capitol is shown in January 2023. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

A Georgia Senate committee kicked off a new push by Republicans in the state to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports, hearing testimony on Tuesday from five former college swimmers who are suing the NCAA and Georgia Tech over a transgender woman’s participation in the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships.

Transgender participation in women’s sports roiled Georgia’s General Assembly in 2022, when lawmakers passed a law letting the Georgia High School Association regulate transgender women’s participation in sports. The association, mostly made up of public high schools, then banned participation by transgender women in sports events it sponsors.

But conservatives including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — a possible Republican contender for governor in 2026 — have said that law doesn’t go far enough and want lawmakers to pass additional laws in 2025. With Jones’ current level of command over the Senate, that means that whatever the committee finds, the Senate is likely to take further action in a year when many people will be positioning themselves for 2026 campaigns.

“We’re here to protect female athletes and that’s what we should be doing as legislators,” Jones told the committee Tuesday. “And I know that’s what we’re going to be able to do at the high school level, because we’re going to take those reins away from a private organization, from the Georgia High School Association, because as elected officials, that should be our duty. And we’re going to protect female sports at our state-run universities and public universities that we fund here in the state of Georgia.”

But opponents say Tuesday’s focus on the participation in the 2022 event by Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won the 500-meter freestyle, doesn’t prove the need for legislation.

“Many here today are focused on one student who won one title at one championship two years ago,” said Kate Smith, the director of LGBTQI+ policy at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress. “If trans women have such a clear advantage in sports, why do we not see them winning many more championships and filling team rosters at the college level?”

At least 23 mostly Republican states have passed laws to restrict transgender women from participating in college and high school sports, and three more states have passed laws to ban participation only at the high school level, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a gay rights group.

Both Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal from Cumming, who is chairing the committee, and the former swimmers repeatedly took aim at Georgia Tech. The university hosted the 2022 championships, and the swimmers say the university shares blame for allowing Thomas to participate and share a locker room with other swimmers.

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, whose advocacy on the issue has made her a conservative political star, read an open letter to Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera.

“You allowed college women to be traumatized and violated on your campus in this way. Why didn’t you protect us?” Gaines asked.

Dolezal said Georgia Tech and the University System of Georgia declined to testify on Tuesday, citing the lawsuit. But both have denied in court papers that they had any role in deciding whether Thomas would participate or what locker room she would use.

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.

Many Republicans say they believe a large majority of the public supports their efforts, and there was a push to showcase the issue in 2022 elections. Jeff Graham of Georgia Equality said LGBTQ rights groups estimate that conservative groups spent millions on advertising criticizing transgender women’s participation in Georgia’s 2022 U.S. Senate race seeking to aid Republican Herschel Walker, who lost to Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock. Gaines made multiple appearances with Warnock, and the issue became a consistent part of Walker’s stump speech.

Measures restricting transgender women’s participation in sports probably could have passed Georgia’s conservative Senate this year. The key question is what the more moderate House is willing to agree to. A spokesperson for House Speaker Jon Burns didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment Tuesday, but opponents of further action have said they got clear signals last year that House leadership wasn’t interested. That’s in part because more House Republicans face more competitive races with Democrats than in the Senate, where most districts are drawn to place one party firmly in control.