Georgia's Governor Brian P. Kemp put pen to paper yesterday on the "Riley Gaines Act of 2025," a move that imprints the state's firm stance on the issue of gender in sports. As reported by the Senate Press Network, Senate Bill 1, championed by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R–Cumming), mandates that sports teams in Georgia's public schools, some private schools, and public colleges must be explicitly categorized by biological sex. The bill disallows individuals assigned male at birth from taking part in female sports teams and sets biological sex as the criterion for accessing sports-related facilities such as restrooms and changing areas.
This legislative development has been termed "a proud and decisive moment for Georgia" by Sen. Dolezal, who led the Senate's Special Committee on the Protection of Women's Sports. “This legislation restores fairness and preserves the integrity of women’s athletics. These principles should never be sacrificed at the altar of radical, woke ideology. I’m proud to have chaired the Senate’s Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports and to stand with the many athletes, parents and advocates, like Riley Gaines, who refused to stay silent. Their courage helped shape this bill and push it over the finish line. Georgia is now one of over two dozen states unapologetically saying that fairness in women’s sports is worth fighting for,” he stated, as obtained by Senate Press Network. Lt. Governor Burt Jones echoed Dolezal's sentiments, stressing the importance of this law to himself as a father to a female athlete and to the state's commitment to its female sports community.
The namesake of the bill, Riley Gaines, host of the "Gaines for Girls" podcast and a former plaintiff in a notable case against the NCAA, hailed the signing as a preventive measure against what she calls "rampant gender ideology." “Three years after I, and dozens of other D1 female athletes, were forced to compete against a man in a Georgia pool, the Riley Gaines Act of 2025 is now law. It’s an honor of a lifetime to know our stories help shed light on a grave problem of rampant gender ideology that means women are victims of government facilitated sex discrimination,” Gaines told Senate Press Network.
