4 bills targeting transgender Georgians. What to know before legislative session ends

Transgender and non-binary Georgia leaders warned that their communities should expect a new normal as four dangerous Senate bills could be voted on within just a week.

The bills target trans athletes; gender-affirming care for state employees and minors; and one that critics say lets religious freedom allow for discrimination.

The Human Rights Campaign and Macon Pride held a town hall Thursday evening at Wesleyan College to inform local residents about these bills. A panel of political and community advocates included Bentley Hudgins, Georgia state director of the HRC; Chanel Haley, deputy director of Georgia Equality; and Zaria Newbill, executive director of NOMO Organization, a local Black trans-led nonprofit.

Trans Georgians can “expect hostility” even if these bills don’t pass, Haley said.

“People are taking their cues from (Washington) D.C.,” she said. “For example, I’ve been asked to do (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) work at businesses and organizations. There’s still people there who want it, but they are in fear of what the repercussions are for that.”

They informed people about how these bills could affect them, the likelihood of the bills becoming law, and how allies can protect trans people under an “abusive administration,” as Hudgins termed it.

SB 1, trans athletes

Senate Bill 1, dubbed the Fair and Safe Athletics Opportunity Act or the Riley Gaines Act, would allow people to sue a school or college in civil court, and make trans athletes prove their sex assigned at birth.

More than half of the state Senate is listed as sponsoring the bill, and Speaker of the House Jon Burns has expressed support for it, according to the Georgia Recorder. Of the four bills, this one is the most likely to pass, according to Hudgins, who represents the HRC at the Capitol.

“What’s going to happen is that they’re requiring these girls who are alleged violators of this law to prove that they’re women, how they define it, which puts a lot of girls (and) all kinds of women up for abuse,” Hudgins said.

The bill was shaped after Riley Gaines, an NCAA swimmer who is cisgender — meaning her gender matches the sex she was assigned at birth — argued she lost a 2022 competition because her opponent, Lia Thomas, was trans.

“We have to think about what the new normal looks like and prepare ourselves for that,” Haley said.

SB 30, youth gender-affirming care

Senate Bill 30 would increase requirements for youth to obtain gender-affirming treatment.

This includes puberty blockers, which trans people can use to delay their production of estrogen or testosterone; hormone replacement therapy, which increases one’s production of a hormone; and gender-affirming surgeries.

Hormone replacement therapy is already banned for youth in Georgia, unless they were already taking the medicine prior to the ban’s passing in 2023.

While the current version of the bill allows for some access to gender-affirming care, it creates roadblocks to get it, according to Hudgins, who identifies as transgender non-binary.

“You have to get approval from a pediatric psychiatrist and a psychologist, and all this other stuff,” they said. “We still oppose the bill. It’s a lot less harmful, but it’s still stupid.”

If SB 30 is passed, in order to be prescribed gender-affirming treatments, two doctors must diagnose a minor with gender dysphoria, or a psychological disconnect between one’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

A minor must also get parental consent to get treatment, which could prove dangerous for some youth who aren’t out, Newbill said.

She organizes support groups in Middle Georgia for parents of trans youth, who have told her they feel tense about what their children face under the state’s Republican trifecta; the State and House Chambers and the governor’s office are majority Republican-led.

“I don’t want to (be) remiss that the parents are actually being impacted by this, too,” Newbill said. “It’s not just trans individuals that have been impacted.”

SB 36, religious freedom

Senate Bill 36, or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is the most dangerous of the four bills targeting the trans community, according to Hudgins.

Versions of the RFRA have been amended since the 1990s, when it was initially meant to protect minority religions from discrimination.

The current version includes vague language that would permit a person or company to take legal action if they believe someone violated their religious freedom.

Hudgins described this bill as the “most damaging” of the four.

It’s more severe than a business rejecting a customer because of their religion, Hudgins stated.

A government employee, for example, could not be held liable for such actions if they reason someone or something goes against their religious beliefs. Insurance companies could also likely claim religion as an excuse to deny service.

“Police wouldn’t have to patrol a Pride parade, or maybe the fire department finds out that you’re gay and they don’t want to have to go to your home,” they said. “Or an insurance company doesn’t want to cover (pre-exposure prophylaxis, or HIV prevention medicine) PrEP because they don’t think that they should have to.”

Georgia does not have a statewide anti-discrimination law, which could have shut down SB 36.

SB 39, state healthcare

State Bill 39 would remove gender-affirming care from state employee healthcare coverage.

This would also affect children and spouses under their plans.

This bill claims it saves Georgians from “radical gender ideology that has, among other things, resulted in a massive unexplained rise in diagnoses of gender dysphoria.”

However, fewer than 1% of people age 13 and older in the U.S. are trans, according to the Williams Institute.

“We’re not going to use state taxpayer dollars to pay for this gender-affirming care and transgender surgeries any longer,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Blake Tillery, said.

Studies show that hormone replacement therapy is safe in both trans adults and youth, according to the National Library of Medicine and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Haley, a Black transgender woman, said that when legislators put themselves first, “we are, of course, roadkill.”

How to be an ally

The panelists called on allies to stand up for trans people and build community.

“We can’t be siloed in our spaces,” Newbill said. “The only way we’re going to be able to combat this is if we do it together.”

She referenced what happened at the Stonewall Riots, when a gay bar in New York was raided by police in 1969. Then, either Marsha P. Johnson or Sylvia Rivera, both activists, threw the first brick at police in protest of the raid.

“To be a true ally means if a brick is being thrown at me, you don’t move. You get in front and protect me,” Newbill said.

Jess Bresler, an audience member at the town hall, asked how to move forward under institutions in a democracy “that just don’t work.”

Haley recommended that people call their legislators to oppose these bills and build forms of protest.

“We have been in defense mode in Georgia for as long as I can remember,” Haley said. “I’m constantly trying to stop what’s happening right now.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM.