Georgia Republicans Target Transgender People in “Women’s Bill of Rights”

Georgia conservatives have introduced a bill that would end the legal recognition of transgender people in the state.

HB 1128, titled “Georgia Women’s Bill of Rights,” would deprive transgender individuals of their legal rights and protections while mandating that they utilize facilities like bathrooms, locker rooms, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and sports teams based on their gender assigned at birth. The bill would also remove protections for LGBTQ people from hate crime law.

“IT IS NOT ABOUT WOMENS RIGHTS,” LGBTQ+ legislative researcher Allison Chapman said on X, the platform formally known as Twitter. “Most alarmingly it ENDS all legal recognition of trans people and REMOVES SEXUAL ORIENTATION and GENDER IDENTITY from qualifying as a HATE CRIME.”

According to Chapman, this bill is one of 540 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced this legislative session. “LGBTQ+ rights are being stripped away with a record number of bills for this point in the session,” Chapman said.

So far, Georgia has introduced 7 anti-LGBT bills this legislative session, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In addition to HB 1128, conservative lawmakers have also introduced a transgender sports ban, a bill that would restrict LGBTQ content in school and forcibly out transgender students, and a gender-affirming care ban. While Georgia already has a gender-affirming care ban for transgender minors on the books, which is currently being challenged in the courts, SB 141 would expand that ban to include puberty blockers and also prohibit school nurses and other employees from affirming a transgender minor’s gender.

“Republicans are hunting LGBTQ+ people and their rights for sport,” Chapman said. “They will not stop until they eradicate trans and queer people from the country. We must stick together and protect each other.”

According to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), LGBTQ equality is rated low in Georgia, with gender identity policies in the state leaning negative. In addition to the ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the state, Georgia also has negative laws relating to changing gender markers on driver’s licenses and birth certificates and has a difficult process for changing legal names.

HB 1128 would endanger what little legal protection exists for LGBTQ people in the state. This bill would not only legally erase transgender people from the law, effectively barring transgender people from public life, but would also make attacking someone because of their sexual or gender identity no longer a hate crime.

“They’ve introduced a murder the gays bill in Georgia. It removes sexual orientation and gender identity from hate crimes protections,” Alejandra Caraballo, clinical instructor at Harvard Law’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said on social media. “They’re actively removing civil rights protections from the law and then have the gall to call it the ‘Women’s Bill of Rights,’” Caraballo continued.

The New Republic noted that this bill, while called the “women’s bill of rights,” would also harm cisgender women. For example, HB 1228 also would change the legal standard applied in evaluating measures attempting to eliminate gender discrimination, potentially impacting legislation addressing equal pay or discriminatory practices in hiring.

“[T]he measure would expose women, both cis- and transgender, to increased violence and discrimination,” The New Republic reported.