Georgia Bans Trans Athletes
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a law preventing transgender athletes from competing on female-designated sports teams.
Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has made it illegal for transgender student-athletes to play on school-sponsored sports teams matching their gender identity.
The legislation, sponsored by State Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), requires schools to designate sports teams as male, female, or coeducational and requires separate locker rooms, restrooms, and sleeping facilities for men and women at athletic events.
Except for coeducational sports leagues, where both males and females can compete, all athletes are otherwise required to play only on teams that match their assigned sex at birth.
However, the bill does not expressly require schools to offer coeducational sporting opportunities to students.
The measure does not authorize schools to verify a student’s sex through visual inspection of their genitals.
But schools may use medical records, birth records, or vaguely-defined “standard school medical procedures” to verify an athlete’s sex.
It is unclear whether those “standard procedures” include chromosomal or other genetic testing.
According to research from the Inclusion Project, genetic testing can cost up $10,000 per athlete, depending on the tests ordered.
Chromosomal testing costs between $1,000 to $2,500 per athlete. For disputed cases, where an athlete appeals a ruling or must submit to additional testing, costs can exceed $15,000 per athlete.
It is unclear whether any such costs would be shouldered by the athletes and their parents or passed on to Georgia taxpayers.
The newly-imposed ban aligns with the Trump administration’s efforts to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, including an executive order threatening to pull federal funding from schools that do not have an explicit policy barring trans athletes from competition.
The Georgia High School Association and the NCAA both already ban transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams.
Opponents of the bill argue that it unfairly singles out transgender people to exclude them from school-sponsored activities.
Some have even suggested that the bill will be weaponized against cisgender female athletes who don’t conform to gender norms or stereotypical styles of dress or grooming by allowing rival coaches to challenge an athlete’s eligibility and sideline them from a match or game deliberately.
“We know that [the bill] will likely be weaponized against students — specifically as it relates to intersex individuals — but it could also be used against cisgender students who are accused of being transgender,” Jeff Graham, the executive director of Georgia Equality, told the Georgia Recorder. “Anyone who loses can throw a tantrum, bring a lawsuit, or bully the champion simply for being deemed ‘too good’ at their sport or for not meeting the stereotypes of what a girl should look like.”
Bentley Hudgins, the state director of the Human Rights Campaign, accused supporters of the bill of hypocrisy and ulterior motives, noting that Republican lawmakers defeated Democratic-backed legislation that sought to equalize funding for women’s and girls’ sports.
“Instead of addressing the real problems young women and girls face on the playing field, they chose to bully trans kids and put all girls in harm’s way,” Hudgins said. “Their absurd attacks on kids are tired and don’t help anyone.”
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