ATLANTA — The NCAA now says it will “limit competition in women’s sports to those assigned female at birth.”
It’s in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes.
The move comes as the Georgia Senate took one step forward Thursday in banning transgender girls from playing girls' sports across the state.
The Senate approved the bill that now heads to the House.
The bill passed the Senate along party lines with two Democrats voting for it, too.
The Senate debate went on for nearly two hours.
“We’re using children as political foils,” state Sen. Harold Jones said.
“You are either born a male or a female,” state Sen. Brando Beach said.
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But in the end, Senators passed SB 1 to ban transgender girls from playing girls' sports in Georgia public schools and colleges.
Transgender sports is a big campaign issue for Republicans but two Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for it as well.
Georgia Equality’s Jeff Graham says making transgender children the number one priority of the Senate is “shameful.”
“The stigma, the misinformation and lies that are spread about these kids for political purposes is truly unfortunate and shameful,” Graham said.
After the vote, Democrats pointed out that transgendered people make up less than 1% of Georgia’s population and called the bill a solution in search of a problem.
Cumming state Sen. Greg Dolezal sponsored the bill with the approval of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.
He said afterward that if you’re a female athlete affected by this issue, it’s important to you.
“I think that the women who have lost competitions, lost medals, not been all-Americans, who have had volleyballs spiked in their face and resulted in brain damage would say this is very much a solution that is the result of a problem that exists today,” Dolezal said.
The bill now goes to the House, which has its own version of a transgender sports bill supported by the House Speaker.
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