The Georgia High School Association is leaving behind a statewide policy that forces transgender student-athletes to compete as their gender assigned at birth. Instead, the association is leaving the decision up to each individual school district to decide what is best for its students.
Certainly this isn’t a perfect policy. Far from it. But it’s a step in the right direction. Now instead of a trans athlete in Georgia having to change state policy to win the right to compete, they will have to convince local town and city school administrators to make local policy as inclusive as possible.
It’s certainly far from perfect and continues to leave the door open to unfortunate misinformation, but whereas there was no access there is now a glimmer of hope. A glimmer.
Alaska has a similar policy and at least a couple trans high school athletes have flourished there.
This won’t be without growing pains in Georgia. Parents have already threatened school districts that they will remove their children from schools if they dare allow trans students to use the restroom and locker facilities of the gender with which they identify.
While there is certainly a separation between participating in a sport and utilizing a particular facility to change clothes, we know various school districts will be in for a fight on this one.
