(The Center Square) – Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones thanked the board overseeing the state’s university system for approving a resolution on the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia passed a resolution asking the NCAA to mirror rules set by the NAIA, which require athletes to compete based on their sex at birth.
“Biologically female student-athletes could be put at a competitive disadvantage when student-athletes who are biologically male or who have undergone masculinizing hormone therapy compete in female athletic competitions,” the board said in its resolution.
Some of the university system’s schools belong to the NCAA, and some are members of the NAIA. Others are part of the National Junior College Athletic Association, the resolution said. The board asked the NCAA and NJCAA to adopt the NAIA’s policies so that the rules would be consistent.
Jones said in a social media post he considers the issue a priority.
“The work female athletes put into competing should be protected at all cost, no matter the age,” Jones said. “This action brings us one step closer toward achieving that ultimate goal.”
The issue became national news when Lia Thomas, competitor for three years on the Penn men’s swimming team, began to compete on the women’s team. Thomas was a winner at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
The Senate Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports held a hearing in August that included testimony from Kylee Alons, a former N.C. State swimmer, and former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. Both are among 16 suing the NCAA.
A measure approved by the Georgia High School Association in 2022 requires high school athletes to compete based on the sex on their birth certificate.
Jones said that the Georgia General Assembly could decide the issue.
“I know that we’re going to be able to do it at the high school level because we’re going to take … that obligation away from the Georgia High School Association because, as elected officials, that should be one of our duties,” Jones said at the August hearing.
Twenty-three Republican senators also asked the NCAA to adopt the NAIA rules in August.
“The science is clear. Males have inherent athletic advantages over females due to their anatomy and biology – including through having larger hearts, higher red blood count, greater lung capacity, longer endurance, larger muscle mass, differences in bone density and geometry, and lower body fat,” the senators said in their letter.
The Center Square was unsuccessful getting response from the NCAA before publication.
