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A Georgia authorities Senate committee passed the Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act Thursday aft grounds from aggregate pistillate athletes who person competed against and shared locker rooms with transgender athletes.
The measure would necessitate athletes to enactment connected teams that align with their biologic enactment astatine birth. If it is signed into law, Georgia would go the 26th authorities successful the U.S. to person a law successful place to forestall oregon restrict transgender athletes from competing successful women's sports.
Georgia has been a premier frontier for this contented aft the authorities hosted the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championships, which included transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Two of Thomas' erstwhile opponents testified astatine Thursday's authorities legislature hearing.
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Former North Carolina State women's swimmer Kylee Alons, a 31-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion, spoke astir the acquisition competing against and sharing a locker country with Thomas.
"We each were conscionable guinea pigs for a elephantine societal experimentation formed by the NCAA regarding however overmuch maltreatment and blatant disregard women would beryllium forced to instrumentality successful silence," Alons said.
Alons recounted the emotions she felt sharing competitory areas with Thomas, and however overmuch sadness she felt watching women suffer retired connected chances to vie reasonably astatine the event. Alons adjacent said she wanted to outcry and permission the lawsuit aft seeing Thomas triumph the 500-meter freestyle.
"It each conscionable felt truthful disconnected and wrong," she said.
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Things got overmuch much hard for Lyons aft she experienced sharing a locker country with Thomas.
"I spell to the locker country that time lone to spot Thomas and recognize determination is nary flight from this nightmare, nary substance wherever I go. I had nary thought helium was going to beryllium allowed successful the women's locker country arsenic we did not consent to person a antheral successful our locker room," Lyons said
"I americium instantly connected borderline each clip I participate that locker country afterward, knowing astatine immoderate infinitesimal a antheral tin locomotion successful connected maine changing.
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Lyons added she felt truthful uncomfortable she resorted to abandoning the locker country altogether and alternatively changed successful a retention closet down the bleachers.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler joined Lyons successful recounting the acquisition of sharing a locker country with Thomas.
"Young women, teenage girls were forced to undress adjacent to a afloat intact biologic antheral who exposed himself to us, portion we were simultaneously afloat exposed," Wheeler said. "We were ne'er asked. We were ne'er fixed a prime oregon different option. We were conscionable expected to beryllium OK with it, to shove down our discomfort, our embarrassment, our fear, due to the fact that lasting up for ourselves would mean being labeled arsenic intolerant oregon hateful oregon bigoted."
Wheeler and Lyons are plaintiffs successful an ongoing suit against the NCAA led by chap erstwhile swimmer and 2022 NCAA title rival Riley Gaines implicit the NCAA's policies connected sex ideology.
Wheeler and Lyons shared their experiences with a connection urging authorities senators astatine the proceeding to walk the Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act.
The measure drew absorption from parents, physicians and others. Dr. Jodi Greenwald, a Roswell pediatrician, told the sheet that transgender girls are not predators and warned that transgender younker are much astatine hazard of suicide.
The measure passed by a ballot of 8-3 aft a astir two-hour hearing.
Lt. Gov. Bill Jones called the ballot an important measurement toward 1 of his captious goals of the session.
"Biological men bash not beryllium successful women’s sports, period," Jones said.
"This is communal consciousness to everyone but the astir extremist liberals successful Georgia. The Senate has ever led the mode connected protecting women’s sports, and with Senate Bill 1, we volition proceed to beryllium connected the close broadside of this commonsense issue.
"I volition ne'er waver successful the combat to support our sisters and our daughters participating connected adjacent footing successful Georgia sports. I look guardant to Senate Bill 1 becoming instrumentality and the extortion of women’s sports becoming a world for each pistillate athletes successful Georgia."
A national prohibition connected transgender inclusion successful girls and women's sports is besides moving done Congress.
The House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls successful Sports Act Jan. 14, which would chopped national backing for immoderate nationalist acquisition instauration that allows transgender athletes to vie against girls and women successful sports.
Every Republican U.S. typical voted successful favour of the bill. Only 2 Democrats, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, some of Texas, voted to walk it. The remaining 206 House House Democrats opposed it. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., voted "present."
A caller New York Times/Ipsos survey recovered the immense bulk of Americans, including a bulk of Democrats, don't deliberation transgender athletes should beryllium permitted to vie successful women's sports. Of the 2,128 radical polled, 79% said biologic males who place arsenic women should not beryllium allowed to enactment successful women's sports.
Of the 1,025 radical who identified arsenic Democrats oregon leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not beryllium allowed to vie with women.
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