Transgender allies gather near the Georgia Capitol to rally against bills banning trans girls from playing sports. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
The first Senate bill of the 2025 Georgia legislative session aims to keep transgender girls out of girls’ sports in middle and high schools as well as colleges.
The bill defines a student’s sex as what is on their birth certificate and forbids schools from allowing a student who was assigned male at birth from playing on a team designated for females. Girls could still play on boys’ teams, and either gender could play on teams designated as co-ed.
Under the bill, schools must also designate separate changing, restroom and sleeping facilities for males and females. The bill also sets up a process for people aggrieved by the law to seek relief from the county superior court. Schools that do not comply could lose their state funding.
Bill sponsor Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Cumming Republican, said the rules would also apply to non-Georgia schools competing in the state.
The measure has the backing of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is likely to run for governor next year when Gov. Brian Kemp’s term expires.
“Biological men do not belong in women’s sports, period,” Jones said. “This is common sense to everyone but the most radical liberals in Georgia. The Senate has always led the way on protecting women’s sports and with Senate Bill 1, we will continue to be on the right side of this common-sense issue. I will never waver in the fight to protect our sisters and our daughters participating on equal footing in Georgia sports. I look forward to Senate Bill 1 becoming law and the protection of women’s sports becoming a reality for all female athletes in Georgia.”
House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, also expressed support for a measure banning transgender girls’ sports participation speaking with reporters last week.
Transgender advocates called the bill a slap in the face and said the fact that it was the first bill filed in the session demonstrates warped priorities.
“We just learned that today, on the very first day of the session, Senate Bill 1 was put forward by Republicans to codify an all-out ban on trans youth in sports,” said Carl Charles, a senior attorney at LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal. “How dispiriting that this is the priority when there are so many other concerns for Georgians in our state, so many other issues that people need to have addressed by our legislators.”
Transgender Georgians and supporters gathered at the Capitol Monday for a rally and press conference. Dozens wore blue and pink transgender pride clothes and waved flags, pledging to push back against the proposed law.
“Throughout history, we have always come up against people trying to stop equality and progress. It’s nothing new,” said Noël Heatherland, statewide organizing director for Georgia Equality. “We saw folks try to stop interracial couples, gay marriage, desegregation. We have always faced opposition. There’s always bumps in the road. But just like we succeeded in all of those times, we will succeed here for transgender and non-binary people in the state of Georgia.”
Last year, lawmakers sponsored several bills advocates derided as anti-LGBTQ, but none passed both chambers after LGBTQ supporters came to the Capitol and committee meetings en masse.
Human Rights Campaign Georgia State Director Bentley Hudgins said this year’s session will also see pro-trans Georgians showing up in large numbers.
“We’re not taking our foot off the gas,” they said. “We understand that right now is the moment to do everything that we can to protect LGBTQ-plus Georgia in all
aspects of life, and so our work is not going to stop and we’re going to do everything we can to protect everyone.”
Senior reporter Stanley Dunlap contributed to this report
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