The Georgia Senate passed a bill late Tuesday restricting students claiming transgender identity from playing sports that do not align with their biological sex, sending the measure to the state House.
Several transgender-related measures were stitched together and attached to what was a bipartisan mental health proposal last week, and it passed over Democratic objections on Tuesday.
The bill now heads to the Georgia House, in which lawmakers will consider whether to require students to play on sports teams and use facilities that align with their biological sex, as well as whether to require schools to notify parents which books their children check out. The bill also includes a restriction on sexual education until seventh grade.
“It protects the rights of women to compete against each other in athletic competition,” said Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon, who curated the bills.
“A person who has gone through puberty as a man and who has developed as a man should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports, no matter what gender identity he claims at that time,” Dixon said. “No matter what the male claims his gender identity is, it would be based on the birth certificate, and would not be allowed to play in those girls sports.”
The initial bipartisan bill was originally aimed at safeguarding the mental health of student-athletes, but Republican leadership added the transgender-related components as a way to protect the mental and physical health of girls in Georgia, they said.
