Georgia High School Association Approves Transgender Athlete Ban

GEORGIA — The Georgia High School Association voted to require student athletes to play on teams determined by the sex on their birth certificate — not their gender identity. The organization oversees sports for the state’s public high schools.

The measure passed unanimously, 62-0, Wednesday following Gov. Brian Kemp's signature of House Bill 1084 into law.

"Following my signature on HB 1084, the Georgia High School Association today voted to protect fairness in school sports by unanimously approving youth to compete according to the sex determined on his/her birth certificate," Kemp tweeted. "I'm proud to have championed this effort in Georgia!"

According to the AJC, the ruling restores the GHSA policy that existed before 2016, when the GHSA began allowing individual member schools to set their own policies.

In an interview with the newspaper, the association's director, Robin Hines, said he has only heard "anecdotally of a couple of transgender athletes participating in boys cross-country" and that GHSA doesn't track participation among transgender students.

Conservatives who support Wednesday's vote have argued that transgender girls have an unfair advantage in sports.

Meanwhile, LGBTQ advocates call the law an unnecessary attack on vulnerable children.

Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, called GHSA's vote "despicable" and one that takes away local control from school districts.

"All Georgia students should have equal access to school sports, and efforts to change policies that facilitate that should be done in a transparent and open way. Today’s actions of the GHSA Executive Committee will do real harm to trans kids in Georgia that just want to be themselves and fit in," Graham said in a statement.

Georgia joins the list of more than a dozen other states that have banned transgender participation based on gender identity for school sports in recent years, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Some of those states include Florida, Alabama, Texas and Iowa.