(The Center Square) – The Georgia Senate passed a bill Thursday that bans males from participating in female sports by a vote of 35-17.
Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, applies to the state’s middle and high schools as well as colleges. Athletic teams would be for males, females or could be co-ed. The bill also requires separate changes for males and females.
Senate Democrats said Republicans were pushing an agenda, noting that President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that also banned males from women’s competitions.
“This bill cultivates, it inflames social conflict and social distrust,” said Rep. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs. “Now I want to commend the majority only in this very narrow way, on political calculus. From a cynical, strategic standpoint, the majority has picked the one issue in the universe of trans issues that is likely to inflame the public, that is likeliest to produce the highest public opinion support numbers.”
Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, said there was no political gain in supporting the bill.
“The question that I ask today is does any senator in this chamber dispute that there is unfair biological, physical advantage to people born as biological males in the competition of sports?” Setzler said.
The Senate rejected an amendment to the bill by Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, that would have addressed what she called inequities between girls’ and boys’ sports.
“The reality is that here in the state of Georgia, girls do not receive equal treatment,” Jackson said. “They’re often assigned teacher supervisors for their sport, people who have absolutely no training at all in coaching in the sport. And why is it that they can’t find coaches? Because there’s a pay disparity that exists.”
Jackson’s amendment would have paid boys and girls sports coaches equally. The senator filed a bill earlier this week that also asked for equal treatment of boys and girls in sports.
Senate Bill 1 now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration. The House introduced its own women’s sports bill Tuesday. The Riley Gaines Act also removes the word “gender” from the state code and replaces it with “sex.” It would also allow the Georgia Professional Standards Commission to create a system that fines principals, superintendents and others found in violation of the bill.