Earlier this year, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Senate Bill 1, also known as the “Riley Gaines Act.” The law requires students in Georgia’s public schools to participate on sports teams and use bathrooms and facilities that align with their biological sex assigned at birth.
This act, aimed at protecting female athletes and leveling the playing field for high school and collegiate sports, has discriminated against transgender students across the state, excluding them from activities and alienating them from their identities. By forcing transgender athletes to use the facilities of the gender they do not identify with, the law has created – and will continue to create – uncomfortable situations, making transgender athletes feel unsafe and unrepresented.
By making students align with their sex assigned at birth while they are at school, the act has devalued the identities of transgender, nonbinary and genderfluid individuals. While these individuals already face social pressure throughout their lives, the act only adds to this discrimination in an attempt to solve an imaginary problem. In fact, research by UCLA found there is no correlation between bathrooms based on gender identity and the number of criminal incidents in restrooms and facilities. On the other hand, research by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that bathrooms based on biological sex actually result in more instances of assault and discrimination taking place in the bathroom.
With no proven benefit coming from this act, its only purpose is to discriminate against transgender students. Forcing students to use the facilities of the gender they don’t align with leads to heightened risk of conflict and shame, thus explaining why 70% of transgender youth avoid using public restrooms altogether, according to the same study by UCLA.
The law directly violates Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education funded by the federal government. Not only that, the wording of the act is extremely discriminatory in itself. By assuming there are only two genders — male and female — the act marginalizes transgender, nonbinary and genderfluid individuals.
While many argue the law protects female athletes in sports from biological males who have an unfair, innate physical advantage, this problem is widely overexaggerated and is simply just a conservative talking point. For example, according to the CDC, only 1.8% of high school students identify as transgender, and according to the UCLA study, only roughly 40% of these students play sports in high school. On top of this, according to the NCAA president, less than 0.002% of college athletes are trans. With such a low number of trans athletes in youth sports, it is clear that the problem the bill is trying to solve is essentially nonexistent, and the bill is instead simply a way to discriminate against and attack trans youth.
Not only is there an extremely low number of transgender students who could possibly have a competitive advantage over their biological counterparts, there is also no real statistic of – or way to prove – the number of these transgender students who actually do have a competitive advantage. While there are cases where individuals have an innate advantage over their opponents, there are several cases where individuals undergo hormone therapy or simply aren’t as athletic or skilled as their opponents. Therefore, instating a one-size-fits-all solution only causes increased discrimination when case-by-case solutions could more effectively level the playing grounds.
However, in a political environment where transgender students are increasingly being discriminated against, the actions of Midtown’s administration represent a hopeful step forward. By providing two gender neutral restrooms and ensuring the welfare of students by providing mental health support on campus, Midtown has protected the rights of students who don’t identify as binary “male” or “female.”
With 79% of youth sampled in a national poll believing that bathroom use by transgender people shouldn’t be restricted, according to the Journal of Homosexuality, Midtown has done well in representing students’ views in spite of acts taken by Georgia politicians. By ensuring that transgender students can use school facilities without feeling uncomfortable or ashamed, Midtown has provided a remedy to the discriminatory Riley Gaines Act aimed at marginalizing transgender students.
