A Georgia Senate panel again approved legislation that would require students to participate in high school sports according to the sex that appears on their birth certificate.
Senate Bill 435 would ban schools from allowing transgender girls from participating in sports that align with their gender identity. The Senate Education and Youth Committee approved the measure on a party-line vote of 6-4, with Republicans voting in favor of the bill.
“This bill is about fairness,” said state Sen. Marty Harbin, a Tyrone Republican who sponsored the measure. “We must only allow biological females to compete in girls sports. This will allow more young girls to achieve their dreams without worrying that they may be competing against those who have an insurmountable genetic advantage.”
According to the bill, schools would have to define a student’s gender based on “a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” A young athlete who could prove he or she was deprived of an opportunity that was given to a transgender child, or was harmed by a transgender child while playing a sport, could then sue the school or school system for damages.
The bill is nearly identical to one the committee passed last year — Senate Bill 266 — along a similar party-line vote. It never made it to the Senate floor.
This year, SB 435 is co-sponsored by Senate Republican Caucus leaders. Gov. Brian Kemp, who faces a stiff GOP primary fight for reelection, has also hinted at support for such legislation. During his State of the State address last month, Kemp said that it is wrong and dangerous to divide students along political lines, adding it is occurring “from the classroom to the ballfield.”
Opponents of the bill warned that it could lead to increased suicide attempts by transgender children and cost the state money by jeopardizing large events, such as those put on by the NCAA.
Supporters said transgender girls have an unfair advantage because of their biology and pointed to cases in Connecticut where two transgender girls placed first and second in track competitions in 2018 and 2019.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
Jen Slipakoff, who has a 14-year-old transgender daughter, said the legislation would leave her daughter unable to participate in sports. Her daughter, who is a seventh-grader at a private school, plays on the girls lacrosse team this year.
“I feel like I’m having a little bit of deja vu today,” Slipakoff said of testifying about similar legislation last year. “If this bill passes, what advice can you give me on how I have this discussion with her? ‘I’m sorry, you can’t play lacrosse anymore because some legislators down at the Capitol who have never met you, who have never seen you play, don’t think you should.’
“This bill is called ‘Save Girls Sports,’ but how do I save my daughter?” she said.
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