Driving the Next 50 Years of Growth in Women's Sports
Georgia lawmakers debate over trans women in sport
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
LGBTQ advocates are urging a state committee to reject calls to create a statewide ban on transgender women student-athletes from competing in women's sports.
Why it matters: The GOP-controlled state Senate's creation of a Special Committee on the Protection of Women's Sports' has revived the divisive debate that dominated the the 2022 legislative session.
Zoom in: A panel of five top-level college women swimmers told the committee they felt cheated when trans woman swimmer Lia Thomas competed against them — and won — at the 2022 NCAA championships held at Georgia Tech.
- The panelists said NCAA and school officials should be held accountable for allowing Thomas to participate in the races and change alongside them in the aquatic center's locker room.
Context: Thomas, who at the time was a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, rose to national prominence after her historic win in the 500-yard freestyle made her the first transgender NCAA champion.
- Georgia Tech officials and Thomas did not accept invitations to attend the committee meeting, state Sen. Majority Chief Deputy Whip Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), who chairs the committee, said.
- Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones announced the committee amid baseless scrutiny about an Algerian boxer's gender identity at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
Chelsea Thompson of the conservative organization Frontline Policy urged lawmakers to codify into state law that K-12 and public college and university student athletes can compete only in sports that align with their gender at birth, not gender identity.
What they're saying: Noël Heatherland of the LGBTQ advocacy organization Georgia Equality told the AJC that transgender people are being targeted for political gain.
- Cait Smith of the Center for American Progress noted that trans participation in sports, especially at the collegiate and elite levels, remains rare. The panelists could not immediately offer the committee a sense of how prevalent the issue is in Georgia.
Zoom out: Some Olympics officials and athletes have urged lawmakers to distinguish between hyper-competitive elite sports and youth sports, which are supposed to foster inclusion and build social skills with young people, Axios' Ina Fried reports.
Context: In 2022, the NCAA Board of Governors set a policy that transgender athlete participation should follow the guidelines set by the international governing bodies of each sport, Axios' Arika Herron reported.
- This sport-by-sport approach was phased in over several years, with full implementation set to start this fall.
What's next: The committee has a Dec. 15 deadline to recommend any legislation for the General Assembly to consider after it reconvenes in January.