ATLANTA (AP) — A day after Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones stood with President Donald Trump in Washington as he signed an executive order intended to prevent transgender athletes from competing in women's sports, he returned to Georgia where state Senate Republicans made a similar move.
The Senate advanced a bill that would prevent K-12 and college students from competing in sports designated for the opposite sex. Most Republican states already have a similar ban. The bill would also require people to use changing areas, locker rooms and sleeping quarters according to their sex assigned at birth. It passed 35-17, with support from two Democrats.
The issue is a top priority for Georgia Republicans this session and for conservatives nationwide. Since returning to office, Trump issued a slew of executive orders targeting transgender people.
“The recognition of female sports is important because without a boundary around female sport that excludes male advantage, males would dominate every major sporting competition,” said Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming, who sponsored the bill.
Opponents say there are very few examples of transgender women competing in men's school sports, which is already banned by the Georgia High School Association.
Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, an Augusta Democrat, said Thursday that Republicans are using transgender kids as “political foils” and painting them as “supervillains."
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe they just want to participate because they like to play?” he said.
Senate Minority whip Kim Jackson, a Stone Mountain Democrat who is openly lesbian, said she worries that some young cisgender women may have to "prove whether they are in fact girls.”
“My heart also breaks for cisgender girls and will be questioned because of SB1,” Jackson said. “The girls who like me, were a little too strong, a little too tall, a little too athletic, just a little too good."
Jackson introduced a bill weeks ago to provide more equal opportunities for men’s and women’s school sports teams through measures such as paying coaches fairly and letting women's teams use facilities at reasonable times. She asked to add those same provisions to the Republican Senate bill that passed Thursday, but Republicans and Dawson Democrat Sen. Freddie Powell Sims turned down the idea.
“I am more clear than ever today that my colleagues are not invested in truly leveling the playing field for girls sports,” Jackson said.
Dolezal said the amendment came up at the last minute. He also said Democrats were out of touch with their voters' views on regulating transgender students in sports.
Sims would not say why she voted for the bill, but she wishes lawmakers spent less time on it. She said she and her south Georgia constituents are more concerned about issues such as health care and education.
“There are those who would like to use it as a civil rights issue. But I don’t think anybody is challenging the civil rights of transgender individuals,” Sims said.
Jones joined Trump in Washington ahead of his expected gubernatorial run. He also introduced legislation he calls a state-level version of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency aimed to cut back on government regulation.
Another bill sponsored by Sen. Blake Tillery of Vidalia takes aim at Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, who has already announced his run for governor. Carr settled with state employees and a child who wanted state health coverage to cover transgender care. The bill would prevent state funds from covering gender-affirming care.
Fayetteville Republican Rep. Josh Bonner introduced a House bill that would also stop transgender women from participating in men's school sports. It requires public schools to separate students based on sex in changing areas and sleeping quarters on sports trips with some exceptions, levying a $1,000 fine for noncompliance.
Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.