The Georgia House recently passed the “Riley Gaines Act,” which aims to prohibit transgender athletes from competing against biological girls and women.
The bill is named after Gaines, the host of the “Gaines for Girls” podcast on OutKick, who has been a champion for keeping biological males out of girls’ and women’s sports ever since competing against Lia Thomas, a trans swimmer who won an NCAA title three years ago.
Representatives voted 102-54 for House Bill 267 on Thursday.
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Riley Gaines has championed fairness in women’s sports. (XX-XY Athletics)
While all 54 no’s came from Democrats, three of them voted to pass; zero Republicans voted no, and of the 10 who did not vote, nine were Democrats.
The measure moves to the Senate, which has passed its own separate legislation.
“Female athletes deserve fair competition and that means the chance to maintain the women’s divisions distinct from men’s categories,” said Republican Rep. Josh Bonner of Fayetteville, the bill’s sponsor.
Riley Gaines, center, gestures while speaking with a panel during a roundtable event calling to protect women’s sports held at The Captain’s Club Golf & Event Center in Grand Blanc on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Ryan Garza / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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Georgia’s high school athletic association currently bans transgender students from participating in sports based on their gender identity; 25 other states have laws restricting sports participation by trans athletes.
Democratic Rep. Karla Drenner of Avondale Estates said the bill is “calculated, dangerous, deeply discriminatory piece of legislation that goes far beyond the realm of athletics.”
“Let’s call this the erasure of transgender Georgians act today,” said Drenner, who was the first openly LGBTQ+ member of the legislature when she was elected in 2000.
Several states, despite President Donald Trump’s executive order, have allegedly continued to allow transgender athletes to compete against biological females; the Department of Education has launched Title IX investigations into California, Minnesota and Maine for doing so.
Riley Gaines has championed fairness in women’s sports. (XX-XY Athletics)
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Trump threatened Maine governor Janet Mills with a lack of federal funding if the state continued to ignore Trump’s order.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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