ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican state senators are making another attempt to impose a conservative stamp on the state’s public schools, passing a bill Tuesday that would ban transgender girls from playing high school sports with other girls, limit sex education and require a system for notifying parents of every item a child obtained in a school library.
GEORGIA TEENS ALLEGEDLY GRAB GUN, KNOCK OUT DEPUTY AND ESCAPE CUSTODY BEFORE BEING RECAPTURED BY POLICE
The Senate voted 33-21 along party lines for House Bill 1104, a measure that originally dealt with suicide prevention, but was radically overhauled in Senate committee by adding a number of other bills that had earlier failed to pass the Senate. The measures mirror bills brought by Republicans in other states.
“Simply, what this bill does is it protects children and it empowers parents,” said Sen. Clint Dixon, a Buford Republican who shepherded the bill.
But Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat, called the measure “an amalgamation of a whole number of wrongheaded culture war bills.”
Although it’s unclear whether the more moderate House will be receptive to the measure, it was pushed forward by Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who has been building a conservative record in advance of a possible run for governor in 2026.
“As the father of a daughter who plays sports, I will never stop fighting to preserve the integrity of women’s sports so that the next generation of Georgia’s female athletes can compete on a safe and level playing field,” Jones said in a statement.
The measure would ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ high school sports. It does not ban transgender males from competing against other males, and it applies not only to public schools but to private schools that compete against public schools. The Georgia High School Association, which regulates high school sports, already enacted such a ban after an earlier law encouraged it.
It would also ban transgender boys and girls playing…
Read the full article here
