Georgia panel recommends ban on transgender participation in girl's sports

A committee studying women's sports is recommending a bill requiring Georgia's high school and college athletes to compete based on the sex listed on their birth certificate.

Boys saying they are girls, or transgender females, would be ineligible to compete in girls sports. They could compete with boys.

The Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women's Sports is also asking the General Assembly to consider legislation that would require separate changing rooms also based on biological sex.

The authority to regulate transgender participation in sports would be stripped from high school athletic associations. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said previously that the General Assembly could have addressed the issue several years ago but gave the authority to the high school athletics association.

"This is an issue that should be decided by the people’s elected representatives," the recommendations said.

Schools that fail or refuse to abide by the rules could lose their funding, according to the recommendations.

"I recognize that there are passions on both sides of this issue and a genuine desire on both sides to move forward in a way that respects everyone," said committee Chairman Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, on Friday. "I hope that we can recognize that we can do two things at one time. We can both treat people respectfully but we can also have an eye towards fairness in the legislative process. And that's I hope to do as we move forward with this."

The Georgia High School Association requires high school athletes to compete based on the sex on their birth certificate. The Board of Regents doesn't have a policy on transgender athletes. The regents passed a resolution in October asking the NCAA to mirror rules set by the NAIA, which requires athletes to compete based on their sex at birth.

Georgia would become the 26th state to enact laws about transgender participation in women's sports if the Legislature passes the committee's recommendations. The Biden administration has tried to expand Title IX to include LGBTQ+ people. Twenty-six states have sued, and the rule is tied up in court.