The regents asked the NCAA and the National Junior College Athletic Association to conform their policies with those of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. That federation voted in April to all but ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports at its 241 mostly small colleges.
Of the 25 schools governed by the regents that have sports programs, four are members of the National Junior College Athletic Association, five are members of the NAIA, and the remaining 16 are NCAA members. The University of Georgia and Georgia Tech are NCAA members.
All athletes are allowed to participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports. But the only athletes allowed to participate in women’s sports are those whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and have not begun hormone therapy.
The much larger NCAA began in August to follow the standards of national and international governing bodies for each sport. Before that, the NCAA policy for transgender athlete participation in place since 2010, called for one year of testosterone suppression treatment and documented testosterone levels submitted before championship competitions.
Board of Regents Secretary Chris McGraw said that the junior college federation allows some transgender students to participate in women's athletics in some circumstances.
Of the 25 schools governed by the board that have intercollegiate sports programs, five are NAIA members, four are members of the junior college federation and 16 are members of various NCAA divisions.
“Those are three very different sets of rules that our institutions' athletic programs are governed by at this point,” said McGraw, also the board's chief lawyer, who briefly presented the resolution before it was approved with no debate. Kristina Torres, a spokesperson, said board members and Chancellor Sonny Perdue had no further comment. Perdue is a former Republican governor while board members have been appointed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
The NCAA didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.
Opponents say those seeking bans on transgender participation in women's and girls' sports are seeking political gain.
Jeff Graham, the executive director of LGBTQ+ rights group Georgia Equality, said the university system “should recognize the importance of diversity at many levels and should be there to care about the educational experience of all of their students regardless of their gender or gender identity.”
“I'm certainly disappointed to see the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia is spending its time passing resolutions that only serve to stigmatize transgender students and perpetuate misinformation about the reality of what is happening within athletic competitions involving transgender athletes,” Graham told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Jones, a possible Republican contender for governor in 2026, thanked the regents for their vote in a Tuesday statement. Senate Republicans showcased the issue in August when they heard from five former college swimmers who are suing the NCAA and Georgia Tech over a transgender woman's participation in the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championships at the Atlanta university.
“The work female athletes put into competing should be protected at all cost, no matter the age,” Jones said. “This action brings us one step closer toward achieving that ultimate goal.”
Transgender participation in women's sports roiled Georgia's General Assembly in 2022, when lawmakers passed a law letting the Georgia High School Association regulate transgender women's participation in sports. The association, mostly made up of public high schools, then banned participation by transgender women in sports events it sponsors.
That law didn't address colleges. According to the Movement Advancement Project, a group that lobbies for LGBTQ+ rights, 23 states have banned transgender students from participating in college sports, although a court ruled that Montana's ban was unconstitutional in 2022.
The August state Senate hearing focused on the participation in the 2022 NCAA swimming championships by Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who swam for the University of Pennsylvania and won the 500-meter freestyle. The witnesses and senators also took aim at Georgia Tech, arguing that the host of the event shared blame for allowing Thomas to participate and share a locker room with other swimmers.
Georgia Tech and the university system have denied in court papers that they had any role in deciding whether Thomas would participate or what locker room she would use.