ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – One day after the Georgia House of Representatives introduced a bill aimed at barring transgender women from women’s sports, President Donald Trump signed a nearly identical executive order into law at the White House.
Georgia’s House bill prohibits transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams designated for girls and women at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. It also prohibits transgender female athletes from using changing facilities, bathrooms or locker rooms designated for women at athletic events.
Appeals courts are split on the legality of prohibiting transgender students from using bathrooms aligning with their gender identity. The 11th District, which covers Georgia, upheld a similar ban in Florida in 2023. The 4th and 7th Circuits disagreed. The 4th Circuit ruling determined that bans like the one proposed in SB 1 violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
Early in 2024, the Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal of the 7th Circuit’s decision.
The House bill is similar to a state Senate bill — the first piece of legislation introduced in the chamber this legislative session.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, who introduced the House bill one day before flying to Washington, D.C. to join Trump for the signing of the federal order, said it was a top priority for state Republicans.
“This is simply about fairness and common sense,” Burns said.
The Georgia House bill is named for Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer who became the face of anti-trans activism in sports after tying for fifth place with trans swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2022 NCAA National Championship meet. The event was held at Georgia Tech’s campus in Atlanta.
Gaines has since sought to bar transgender participation in sports. She appeared in an anti-trans campaign ad for Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker just before his 2022 runoff against U.S. Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock. Walker lost that race.
She sued the NCAA in Atlanta, along with more than a dozen other athletes, saying allowing Thomas to compete violated their Title IX rights.
Thomas has since been banned from competing in women’s competitions.
“Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes and we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls,” said Trump at the executive order signing on Wednesday. “From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”
Trump then went on to list several instances where transgender athletes had won cycling and weightlifting competitions, but not at the middle school, high school or collegiate level. On Tuesday, Georgia lawmakers struggled to identify other examples of the issue outside of Gaines and Thomas in 2022.
Georgia Democrats introduced their own bill this week that would require equal field and court time, equal coaching pay, and equal funding for girls and boys sports.
“Our female athletes are here begging for real solutions to their real problems,” said State Senator Kim Jackson (D–Stone Mountain). “And to be clear our trans girls are the farthest from the problem.”
Trump assured his executive order is in line with Title IX, the federal provision that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding. It is still likely headed for legal challenges, and Trump’s administration said they’re pushing other entities to embrace the policy.
“The president has actually mentioned this that he does expect the Olympic Committee and the NCAA to no longer allow men to compete in women’s sports,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “And I think the president with the signing of his pen starts a very public pressure campaign on these organizations to do the right thing for women and for girls across the country.”
In testimony to Congress earlier this month, NCAA president Charlie Baker said he was aware of fewer than 10 known transgender athletes in NCAA competition.
Baker announced Tuesday that the NCAA will comply with the executive order.
Local transgender athletes are concerned that the legislation is simply a vessel for hatred.
“It’s scary, it really is scary,” said Nikole Glaug, a local transgender woman who, for years, has competed in an intramural and inclusive soccer league. “It’s a Boogeyman that’s meant to stir up fear.”
Glaug said the issue is overblown and doesn’t see the problem being as prevalent as the slew of laws in recent years would suggest. Around half of states have passed bans on transgender women in women’s sports.
“Where are all the trans athletes dominating international soccer or basketball or volleyball or all these sports where we have ‘perceived’ inherent benefits?” said Glaug. “Where are they? They don’t exist.”
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