They heard testimony this week from five former college swimmers who are suing the NCAA and Georgia Tech over a biological male's participation in the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championships.
Male participation in women's sports roiled Georgia's General Assembly in 2022, when lawmakers passed a law letting the Georgia High School Association regulate transgender women's participation in sports. The association, mostly made up of public high schools, then banned biological males in sports events it sponsors.
But conservatives including Lt.Gov.Burt Jones — a possible Republican contender for governor in 2026 — have said that law doesn't go far enough and want lawmakers to pass additional laws in 2025. With Jones' current level of command over the Senate, that means that whatever the committee finds, the Senate is likely to take further action in a year when many people will be positioning themselves for 2026 campaigns.
“We’re here to protect female athletes and that’s what we should be doing as legislators," Jones told the committee Tuesday. "And I know that’s what we’re going to be able to do at the high school level, because we’re going to take those reins away from a private organization, from the Georgia High School Association, because as elected officials, that should be our duty. And we’re going to protect female sports at our state-run universities and public universities that we fund here in the state of Georgia.”
But opponents say Tuesday's focus on the participation in the 2022 event by Lia Thomas, a biological male who swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won the 500-meter freestyle, doesn't prove the need for legislation.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who lost when she competed against Thomas, read an open letter to Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera.
“You allowed college women to be traumatized and violated on your campus in this way. Why didn’t you protect us?” Gaines asked.
Dolezal said Georgia Tech and the University System of Georgia declined to testify on Tuesday, citing the lawsuit. But both have denied in court papers that they had any role in deciding whether Thomas would participate or what locker room he would use.
