The College Fix

Board votes unanimously in support of policy keeping sports separated by sex

The Georgia Board of Regents, who oversee more than two dozen higher education institutions, voted Tuesday to take a stand for women-only sports.

The vote was unanimous, the Associated Press reports.

The regents, who govern the state’s 26 public colleges and universities, passed a resolution calling on the National Collegiate Athletics Association to end its policy allowing male athletes who identify as transgender females to compete in women’s sports.

“[B]iologically female student-athletes could be put at a competitive disadvantage when student-athletes who are biologically male or who have undergone masculinizing hormone therapy compete in female athletic competitions,” the resolution states.

The board urged the NCAA and the National Junior College Athletic Association to keep sports separated by sex, and adopt the same policy as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Its policy, passed in April, bars biological men from competing in women’s sports, The College Fix reported at the time.

For biologically female athletes who have begun “masculinizing hormone therapy,” the policy states they can participate in activities that are “internal to the institution,” such as workouts and practices. They also may participate in external competitions that do not fall under the purview of NAIA events.

Among the Georgia colleges and universities that the regents oversee, “four are members of the National Junior College Athletic Association, five are members of the NAIA, and the remaining 16 are NCAA members. The University of Georgia and Georgia Tech are NCAA members,” according to the AP.

The decision received praise from the lieutenant governor, the report states:

The unanimous vote came after Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican, vowed in August to pass legislation that would ban transgender women from athletic events at public colleges. …

Jones, a possible Republican contender for governor in 2026, thanked the regents for their vote in a Tuesday statement. Senate Republicans showcased the issue in August when they heard from five former college swimmers who are suing the NCAA and Georgia Tech over a transgender woman’s participation in the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships at the Atlanta university.

“The work female athletes put into competing should be protected at all cost, no matter the age,” Jones said. “This action brings us one step closer toward achieving that ultimate goal.”

Currently, 16 female athletes are suing the NCAA and the University System of Georgia for allegedly violating their rights under Title IX, The Fix reported. The federal law prohibits schools from discriminating on the basis of sex and protects equal opportunities for men and women in college athletics.

Plaintiffs include swimmer Riley Gaines who competed against University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male who identifies as a female.

The young women say they were forced to compete against and share locker rooms with men during athletic competitions, including at Georgia Tech.

However, in Gaines’ case, “Georgia Tech and the university system denied they had any role in deciding whether Thomas participated or what locker room the transgender student-athlete used,” according to National Review.

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