A bill banning transgender girls from playing school sports in girls’ athletics competition is on the way to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk after passing both chambers on mostly party lines Monday.
If it receives Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature, Senate Bill 1 will require all schools from elementary through college to designate teams as male, female and co-ed based on sex at birth and ban those assigned male at birth from playing on female teams. It also restricts access to facilities like restrooms, locker rooms and sleeping quarters during athletic events.
“This legislation does not target individuals, it targets inequities,” said Homer Republican Rep. Chris Erwin, who chairs the House Education Committee. “It safeguards the decades of progress made in women’s athletics by reaffirming the state’s interest in promoting equal opportunity and preventing unfair advantages.”
“This bill speaks to the heart of athletic integrity,” he added. “It is about ensuring that every child, regardless of gender, has a chance to compete safely and fairly.”
Three House Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill: Augusta Rep. Lynn Heffner, Macon Rep. Tangie Herring and Valdosta Rep. Dexter Sharper. Another 13 House Democrats did not vote on the bill.
In the Senate, Dawson Sen. Freddie Powell Sims was the only Democrat to join all Senate Republicans to vote in support of the bill.
Chamblee Democratic Rep. Karen Lupton characterized the bill as hateful and useless.
The NCAA and Georgia High School Association already ban transgender girls from competing on girls’ teams.
“If this is a shield for girls in sports, you’d think that there’d be lots of coaches, lots of schools that run sports programs, lots of athletes coming up, storming the castle, and saying, ‘oh my gosh, we need this now,’” Lupton said. “Instead, the people who spoke to the bill were athletes who are currently competing with and against transgender athletes. We had clergy speak against SB1. We had parents of transgender children speak against SB1. Not a single coach. Not a single athletic organization.”
Lilburn Democratic Rep. Jasmine Clark said the bill will harm transgender people and could sweep up transgender and cisgender women and girls into invasive gender checks.
Clark gave examples of people who have been adversely affected by anti-trans laws in other states, including cisgender women who were followed into the ladies’ room by male police and a transgender male wrestler who won a women’s championship after not being allowed to compete against boys.
“We have created a bill that is a license to harass, a license to bully, a license to harm, and these actual athletes do not want this,” she said.” They did not ask for this. And I think that that is a problem.”
Fayetteville Republican Rep. Josh Bonner, who carried the bill in the House, ended debate with the story of a friend of his daughter who he said got beat up by “a boy pretending to be a girl.”
“Biological males have an inherent physiological advantage. Allowing that advantage on the field places females up at risk,” he said.
“A yes vote provides a necessary protection for my daughter and thousands of other female athletes in Georgia,” he added.
Gov. Brian Kemp has indicated support for a transgender sports ban. After the session ends on Friday, he will have 40 days to sign it into law or to allow it to become law without his signature.
