ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is asking two organizations that govern collegiate sports to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
Tuesday’s unanimous vote came two years after the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) voted to require students to participate in high school sports based on their gender at birth.
The controversy over transgender women taking part in women’s sports erupted during the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held at Georgia Tech.
Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania, who had posted respectable but not spectacular times while swimming for the men’s team, emerged into the national spotlight while transitioning to female through hormone replacement therapy, winning the 500-meter freestyle event.
Five former elite-level college women swimmers who took part in those championships testified before a state Senate committee in August that being forced to compete against Thomas was unfair. They also said they were uncomfortable having to share a locker room with Thomas.