A State of Georgia Senate committee adopted the equitable sports opportunities law on Thursday after the testimony of several female athletes who faced and shared the changing rooms with transgender athletes.
The bill would oblige athletes to participate in teams who line up with their biological sex at birth. If it is promulgated, Georgia would become the 26th state in the United States to have a law in place to prevent or prevent transgender athletes from participating in female sports.
Georgia was a main border for this issue after the State organized the NCAA 2022 women’s swimming championships, which included the Swimmer Transgender Lia Thomas.
Two of Thomas’ former opponents testified during the hearing of the Congress of State on Thursday.
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Riley Gaines, spokesperson for the independent Women’s Forum, equaled Lia Thomas for fifth place in the 200 m free final at the NCAA swimming and diving championships. (Brett Davis / USA TODAY SPORTS)
The former female swimmer in the Northern Carolina State, Kylee Alons, 31 times All-American champion and double NCAA champion, spoke of the experience in competition and sharing a cloakroom with Thomas.
“We were all only guinea pigs for a giant social experience formed by the NCAA concerning the quantity of abuse and the blatant contempt that women would be forced to take silence,” said Alons.
Alons told the emotions that she felt to share competitive areas with Thomas, and how much sadness she felt by looking at women losing chance of competing fairly during the event. Alons even said that she wanted to cry and leave the event after seeing Thomas win the 500 meters freestyle.
“Everything was so extinguished,” she said.
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Things have become much more difficult for Lyon after having experienced a cloakroom with Thomas.
“I go to the locker rooms that day only to see Thomas and realize that there is no escape from this nightmare, no matter where I go. I did not know that he was going to be authorized in the locker rooms of women because we did not agree to have a man in our locker rooms, “said Lyons
“I am immediately on the edge every time I enter this locker room afterwards, knowing at any time that a man can walk on me by changing.
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Lyon added that she felt so uncomfortable that she used to completely abandon the locker room and rather changed in a storage cupboard behind the stands.
The former swimmer of the University of Kentucky, Kaitlynn Wheeler, joined Lyon to tell the experience of sharing a wardrobe with Thomas.
“Young women, the teenagers were forced to undress alongside a fully intact biological man who exposed himself to us, when we were simultaneously exposed,” said Wheeler. “We were never asked. We have never given us the choice or another option. We were just supposed to agree with that, to push our discomfort, our embarrassment, our fear, because we defend ourselves would mean being labeled as intolerant or hateful or sectarian. “
The swimmer of Penn Quakers Lia Thomas is preparing for the 200 free at the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 18, 2022. (Brett Davis / USA TODAY SPORTS)
Wheeler and Lyon are complainants in an in progress against the NCAA led by another former swimmer and the competitor of the NCAA championship in 2022, Riley Gaines, on NCAA policies on the ideology of the sexes.
Wheeler and Lyon shared their experiences with a message urging state senators to the audience to adopt the Act on Sports and Safety Opportunities.
The bill attracted the opposition of parents, doctors and others. Dr. Jodi Greenwald, a pediatrician from Roswell, told the panel that transgender girls are not predators and have warned that young transgender people risked more suicide.
The bill was adopted by a vote of 8-3 after a hearing of almost two hours.
Lieutenant-Governor Bill Jones described an important step to one of his critical session objectives.
“Biological men do not belong to female sports, period,” said Jones.
“It is common sense for everyone, but the most radical liberals in Georgia. The Senate has always paved the way for the protection of female sports, and with Bill 1 of the Senate, we will continue to be On the good side of this question of common sense.
“I will never wave in the fight to protect our sisters and daughters participating in an equal footing in the sports of Georgia. I look forward to that the Senate bill 1 becomes the law and the protection of sports female becoming a reality for all female athletes in Georgia. “
The federal ban on transgender inclusion in the sports of girls and women also involves congress.
The House of Representatives past him Protection of women and girls in the Sports Act on January 14, which would reduce federal funding for any public education establishment which allows transgender athletes to compete with girls and women in sport.
Each American republican representative voted in favor of the bill. Only two Democrats, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both from Texas, voted to adopt it. The 206 Democrats in the remaining chamber opposed it. The representative Don Davis, Dn.C., voted “present”.
A recent New York Times / Ipsos survey Found that the vast majority of Americans, including the majority of Democrats, do not think that transgender athletes should be allowed to participate in female sports. Of the 2,128 people interviewed, 79% said that biological men who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in female sports.
Of the 1,025 people who have identified as a democrats or who lean a democrat, 67% said that transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
