Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) signed legislation into law on Monday that would block males identifying as females from competing in girls’ and women’s sports at public schools and colleges in the Peach State.
The Riley Gaines Act, which will take effect on July 1, requires that student athletes from kindergarten through college compete according to their biological sex, not what they may identify as. The law further requires the state to provide separate locker rooms and changing facilities for male and female athletes.
“It will establish clearly in Georgia law that males are not allowed to compete in female sports in the state of Georgia,” said Forsyth County Republican State Senator Greg Dolezal, who sponsored the measure. “This bill recognizes that when you allow males to participate in female sports, it ceases to become female sport.”
Riley Gaines, for whom the legislation is named, has emerged as the leading voice among female athletes seeking to prevent trans inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports. In March of 2022, Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer at the University of Kentucky, tied transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Despite the tie, the championship was given to Thomas.
More than two dozen states nationwide have adopted legislation identical or similar to the Riley Gaines Act. In early February, President Trump signed an executive order titled, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, which charged the federal government with investigating schools and institutions that violate Title IX by allowing men to compete in women’s sports and, if necessary, withholding federal funding from those who refuse to comply.
