The Georgia House voted to restrict transgender student athletes from participating in gender school sports of their choosing. The bill, The Riley Gaines Act of 2025, intends to “save girls sports” by preventing student athletes from competing against teams that may have trans athletes or playing on teams with athletes of the opposite biological sex.
It passed the state Senate earlier in this session.
Senate Bill 1 is a companion bill to the House version of the Riley Gaines Act, HB 267. It focuses on a separation of the sexes in locker room changing areas and off campus sleeping quarters accommodations.
The origin of the bill stems from the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championship in Atlanta where Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, tied Riley Gaines for fifth place in a 200-yard swimming final.
“What we are trying to do is create a boundary around female sport to prevent the inclusion of the male advantage in female sport,” said sponsor Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Alpharetta. “We recognized both biologically, anecdotally, and statistically that there is an adherent male advantage when it comes to sports.”
SB 1 includes all public K-12 schools, private schools, and colleges and universities that accept state funding and participate in state sanctioned athletic competition. Schools are prohibited from conducting a visual inspection, however, they are permitted to rely on medical records and routine preparticipation physical evaluations (PPE) that are required for any student who wants to participate in school sanctioned sports.
“I noticed the people who are bringing forth these anti-trans bills are men. We need women to be actually creating the rules under which we play, not men,” Molina Pierce, an advocate against the bill, said. “This bill is not about protecting women, it is about the hatred of trans people.”
The bill defines male and female by the reproduction potential of both sexes. Under the law, males have the potential to produce sperm and females have the potential to produce ovum. The bill does not mention intersex individuals who may have the biological capacity to produce both sperm and ovum. In some cases, individuals may not know they are intersex until later in life.
“Athletics should base policies on science and biology and not ideology,” said Chelsea Thompson, general council for Frontline Policy Council and an advocate for the bill. “Thus transparency and consideration of biological realities are essential for fair competition.”
Rep. Carmen Rice, R-Columbus worries the inclusion of private institutions in this bill may cloud the separation of public and private schools and universities. Sen. Dolezal argues that the inclusion of private institutions is necessary if they want to continue competing in sports against public institutions.
“While this bill targets trans girls and women, other people will also be negatively impacted,” said Noel Heatherland, an advocate against the bill. Heatherland mentioned the public criticism Olympian Serena Williams’ faced relating to her physicality and a recent case of transgender allegations against a Utah high school basketball player.
“Not every girl looks like Riley Gaines, and if every trans person was so advantaged, I think we would actually hear about a lot more people than Lia Thomas,” Heatherland.
The bill heads to the Governor for his signature or veto.
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