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Georgia Regents want to ban transgender women from college sports

Georgia Regents want to ban transgender women from college sports

Dave Williams
| Capitol Beat News Service

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ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is calling on two organizations that regulate college sports to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports.

Tuesday’s unanimous vote came two years after the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) voted to require students to participate in high school sports based on their gender at birth.

The controversy over transgender women’s participation in women’s sports erupted during the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech.

Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania, who had posted respectable but not spectacular times while swimming for the men’s team, was thrust into the national spotlight when she transitioned to female through hormone replacement therapy and won the 500-meter freestyle.

Five former elite student swimmers who competed in those championships testified before a state Senate committee in August that it was unfair to be forced to compete against Thomas. They also said they were uncomfortable having to share a locker room with Thomas.

“Biologically female student-athletes could suffer a competitive disadvantage if student-athletes who are biologically male or who have undergone masculinizing hormone therapy participate in women’s athletic competitions,” reads the second paragraph of the resolution the Board of Regents adopted Tuesday has.

The resolution calls on both the NCAA and the National Junior College Athletic Association to align their policies toward transgender women in sports with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, which already bans transgender women from participating in women’s sports.

More: Supporter of lawsuit against NCAA transgender policy: ‘You need to be held accountable’

The issue was among the most controversial to be addressed by the General Assembly in 2022. Lawmakers were considering a bill that would ban transgender athletes from participating in school sports teams based on their gender identity rather than their sex at birth.

However, lawmakers passed on an outright ban and instead voted to leave the decision to the GHSA’s Executive Committee, which approved a ban in the spring.

Now Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, leader of the Georgia Senate, is vowing to once again include transgender women in sports in the 2025 legislative session with a bill that would ban them from participating in sports at Georgia’s public colleges.

“I want to thank the Board of Regents for taking action on an issue that I highlighted as a priority and that the Senate has advanced in Georgia – protecting women’s sports,” Jones said after Tuesday’s vote. “The work that female athletes should put into competition should be protected at all costs, regardless of age.” This action brings us one step closer to achieving that ultimate goal.”

During debate in the 2022 General Assembly, legislative Democrats, transgender students and their parents argued that banning transgender girls’ participation in high school girls sports would discriminate against students who already suffer from prejudice. They cited higher-than-average suicide rates among transgender teens.