Georgia university system pushes for ban on transgender male athletes in collegiate sports
Georgia's public universities have asked that the NCAA ban transgender women from women's sports.
The Georgia High School Association made a similar move.
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has unanimously requested that collegiate sports organizations, including the NCAA and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
This move follows a similar decision made by the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) in 2022, which mandated that students compete in sports based on their birth gender, according to the National Review.
The issue of men in women’s sports gained national attention during the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, where Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, won the 500-meter freestyle event.
Five former college swimmers, including Riley Gaines, have since testified before Georgia’s Senate, claiming that competing against Thomas was unfair and uncomfortable, particularly because of shared locker rooms. They are now suing the NCAA and Georgia Tech for allowing Thomas to compete.
The Board of Regents’ resolution expressed concern that biologically female athletes could be at a competitive disadvantage when facing transgender women or athletes who have undergone masculinizing hormone therapy.
The resolution calls for the NCAA and NJCAA to adopt policies similar to those of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which prohibits transgender women from competing in female sports. The NAIA’s rules, implemented in August 2023, allow only biological women who have not begun hormone therapy to participate in female sports.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones has been a vocal supporter of these measures, praising the Board of Regents for taking action.
He has promised to revisit the issue in the 2025 legislative session, with plans to introduce a bill that would ban transgender women from competing in sports at Georgia’s public colleges. Jones emphasized the importance of protecting women’s sports and the effort female athletes put into competing.
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The Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute assisted college students across 48 states in celebrating the second annual XX Real Women’s Day.
Named after the female chromosomes, “XX” also represents the Roman numeral for ten-ten, making October 10 the designated day to recognize real women and their unique contributions to sports and history.
The day’s events included activities such as a baseball throwing challenge, designed to emphasize the physical differences between men and women, and to showcase the competitive edge male athletes hold over female athletes.
Campus Reform has contacted the University System of Georgia for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.