ATLANTA Republican Georgia state senators passed a bill Tuesday banning transgender girls from playing high school sports with other females, limiting sex education, and requiring a system to notify parents of school library items borrowed.
In Senate committee, House Bill 1104, which addressed suicide prevention, was amended to include many unsuccessful Senate bills and passed 33-21 along party lines. Republicans in other states have similar bills.“Simply, what this bill does is it protects children and empowers parents,” said bill mentor Buford Republican Sen. Clint Dixon.
Atlanta Democrat Sen. Elena Parent called it “an amalgamation of a whole number of wrongheaded culture war bills.”Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a conservative candidate for governor in 2026, introduced the idea, which may be rejected by the moderate House.
As the parent of a sports-playing daughter, Jones said he will never stop fighting to maintain women's sports so Georgia's female athletes may participate safely and fairly.This measure would ban transgender girls from high school sports. Public and private schools that compete with public schools accept transgender males. The Georgia High School Association outlawed it after a law encouraged it.
Transgender athletes would be barred from gender-specific locker rooms and restrooms. The bill appears to allow transgender boys and girls to use gender-appropriate restrooms.
Jennifer Hadley of Bethlehem wasn't sure how a transgender child would affect his band involvement. My son is “already having a hard enough time as it is just being a teenager, much less being a trans teenager,” she said.Hadley said their mental health suffers from uncertainty.Another part of the bill would allow schools to stop sex education and only enroll students with parental consent. Sex education below fifth grade would be outlawed.
State sex education requirements require second graders to learn body component names and “appropriate boundaries around physical touch,” but they don't cover human reproduction until eighth grade. Puberty is taught in fifth grade, and most sex education is in high school health.
Schools can discuss child abuse, assault prevention, and menstruation under the measure. Teachers may struggle to explain menstruation to fifth graders. Dixon told the committee that his wife told one daughter about menstruation without mentioning reproduction.
Sex education curriculum adoption requires two public hearings and 45 days of public review and discussion by school boards. School presentations require two weeks' notice.Dixon said "Children only have a finite time of innocence and we should protect that."
Many parents will unintentionally drop student enrollment, argue opponents of the opt-in clause.“What is this bill?” said Atlanta Democrat Sen. Josh McLaurin. Some uncomfortable parents can avoid sex discussions until later in life by banning them. So weak.”
The measure's third portion would contact parents when their children borrow library materials. Students' behavioral reports, academic intervention options, classroom, library, and extracurricular materials are available to parents. Decatur Democrat Rep. Omari Crawford, who introduced the high school athlete suicide prevention clause, now opposes it.Crawford believes the new language will raise suicide rates. "I don't think it'll stop suicide."
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