Georgia’s Riley Gaines Act Restricts Transgender Athletes From Girls’ and Women’s School Sports

The Georgia law requires school and college athletic teams to be organized according to sex as defined by the statute, reigniting a national debate over competitive fairness, transgender participation and student rights.

ATLANTA — Georgia has implemented one of its most consequential rules governing transgender student athletes, requiring school and college sports teams to follow sex-based eligibility requirements under the Riley Gaines Act.

The measure, formally known as Senate Bill 1, was signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on April 28, 2025, after passing both chambers of Georgia’s General Assembly.

The law took effect July 1, 2025, requiring covered educational institutions to designate athletic teams according to sex and restricting participation on teams designated for the opposite sex.

In practical terms, transgender girls and women who are classified as male under the statute cannot compete on female teams covered by the law, regardless of their gender identity.

 

 

 

The viral graphic’s statement that transgender women are banned from “all women’s sports teams in Georgia” is broader than the actual statute because the legislation specifically regulates educational athletics.

It covers Georgia public schools, local school systems, participating private schools and postsecondary educational institutions covered by the statute, including competition at middle-school, high-school and college levels.

Private schools participating in athletic competition against public schools are also subject to relevant requirements, meaning the law reaches beyond institutions directly operated by state or local governments.

Georgia defines “female” in the legislation according to reproductive biology associated with producing ova, while “male” is defined according to reproductive biology associated with producing sperm.

Those statutory definitions determine athletic eligibility rather than an athlete’s gender identity, making transgender participation the central practical and political issue generated by the legislation.

The rules extend beyond competition. Covered schools must also designate multiple-occupancy restrooms, changing facilities and sleeping quarters for exclusive use according to sex, subject to specified accommodations and exceptions.

At the college level, covered institutions also face restrictions on hosting or sponsoring competitions in which athletes classified as male participate on teams designated for female competitors.

The legislation additionally prevents covered postsecondary institutions from awarding scholarships intended for members of female athletic teams to athletes classified as male under the statute.

Supporters frame the legislation primarily around competitive fairness and safety, arguing physiological differences between males and females justify preserving separate athletic categories for female student athletes.

Kemp said when signing the measure that female athletes should not be required to compete against athletes he described as biological males or share certain changing facilities with them.

Georgia lawmakers similarly stated in the legislation that sex-specific athletic categories protect competitive opportunities, safety, recognition and potential scholarships available to female athletes.

The law carries Riley Gaines’ name because of her advocacy for sex-based eligibility rules following her experience competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships in Atlanta.

Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle event at those championships, an episode that subsequently became prominent in the national political debate surrounding transgender participation in women’s athletics.

Gaines later became a national advocate for legislation reserving female athletic categories according to biological sex and participated in political campaigns supporting similar policies across numerous states.

Opponents approach the issue differently, arguing laws like Georgia’s discriminate against transgender students and exclude a small, potentially vulnerable population from participating in school activities according to their gender identity.

Georgia Recorder reported that Human Rights Campaign state director Bentley Hudgins criticized lawmakers for focusing on transgender participation rather than measures involving funding, equipment and broader opportunities within girls’ athletics.

The practical impact may initially be limited in numerical terms. When Kemp signed the legislation, supporters and opponents told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution they were unaware of transgender athletes then competing in Georgia school sports.

Georgia also already had restrictions at the high-school level before SB 1. The Georgia High School Association previously required athletes to participate according to the sex listed on their birth certificates.

The new statute therefore did more than create an athletic-association rule: it placed sex-based eligibility requirements into Georgia law and extended requirements across additional educational institutions and facilities.

The legal environment surrounding such restrictions also changed significantly this year when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in cases involving transgender-athlete restrictions adopted by West Virginia and Idaho.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr characterized the June 2026 decisions as supporting states’ authority to maintain sex-based athletic categories, after Georgia had joined other states supporting those laws before the Supreme Court.

The debate nevertheless remains broader than whether Georgia can enforce its statute. Supporters and opponents continue disagreeing about fairness, equal protection, inclusion and how schools should accommodate transgender students