Tuesday, Georgia Senate Republicans successfully stole State Representative Omari Crawford’s bill which originally addressed mental health challenges currently facing high school athletes and pumped it full of culture war issues that serve as red meat for Conservatives. The current version of House Bill 1104 passed 31-21 along party lines. State Senator Clint Dixon, a Republican from Buford, says the Georgia Senate Education Committee and Youth added changes to the bill that protects children and empowers parents from a “dangerous” atmosphere.
The Georgia Senate Education Committee and Youth added other bills that failed to pass previously. These bills include bathroom restrictions, transgender sports bans, and restrictions on when children can learn about sex education. These proposals are similar to those by Republicans in other states.
“This bill provides that public schools and private schools participating in sports leagues with public schools, the matter dealing with gender identity,” said Dixon. “And what it is no matter what the male would claim his gender identity is currently it would be based off of his birth certificate, and would not be allowed to play in those girls sports. It doesn’t have anything to do with CO Ed sports, it is just dealing with protecting women’s sports and girls sports in K through 12th grade.”
Georgia Republicans have continually campaigned on transgender sports bans, citing only biological males must compete against biological males and biological females must compete against biological females. These measures have been championed by Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who has designs of a run for Governor in 2026.
Senate Democrats impugned the bill because it creates division and discrimination while creating lanes for future lawsuits.
“To hear cases on similar bands underscores the fraught legal landscape we navigate a landscape where Georgia risks becoming ensnared in endless litigation shouldering the financial burden of defending indefensible policies,” said Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes, a Democrat from Duluth. “The implications of such a legal quagmire extend far beyond the courtroom, threatening the very fabric of our educational system, and the principles of which it is built.”
Senator Derek Mallow, a Democrat from Savannah, sharply criticized Republicans for their hypocrisy relative to their love for private schools compared to their disdain for public schools.
“If you’re going to do something for one, do it for everybody, be consistent and how you legislate, don’t pull folks out for certain things and not for everything,” said Mallow. “Because you just told me last week, schools were failing and we can’t count on local school districts to do the right thing.
But you can count on private schools to do the right thing for everything. Oh, no. Well, we trust them on everything, but there’s one thing but we’ll let them go on everything else. Be consistent and true to what you said on paper.”
The bill also bans Georgia Public Schools from teaching sex education before the sixth grade.
“The reason is because kids by the age of seven, maybe even earlier are already dealing with the threat of abuse, gender identity forming real world interactions on the playground,” said Senator Josh McLaurin, a Democrat from Sandy Springs. “but the parents might be lagging behind. What is this bill? It is nothing more than banning everybody from talking about sex so that a few parents who feel uncomfortable don’t have to until later in life. That’s weak.”
However, the current version of House Bill 1104 is not the true intention of the bill.
February 29th, Georgia State Representative Omari Crawford, a Democrat representing South Dekalb in the Legislature, was able to successfully pass a mental health bill for high school athletes. Specifically, his legislation was designed to mandate participating public and private schools to address mental health risks for student athletes, including suicide prevention.
Additionally, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, would be tasked to develop and post about mental health risks for student athletes. It would raise awareness of mental health resources that are made available to student athletes. In developing such guidelines and materials, an athletic association may utilize educational videos available at no cost to the state for the purpose of educating school personnel and coaches.
At this point, Crawford is fighting to stop the passage of House Bill 1104 because he cannot claim the bill as his own.
“About an hour before my Senate hearing I was informed that about seventeen pages have been added to my legislation, all of which contains content that I am ideologically opposed to,” says Crawford.
Crawford added in his social media post that sometimes a challenge appears that alters an athlete from their game plan. But he has a simple response.
“I will continue to fight for our students in Georgia no matter what happens this week with HB 1104,” said Crawford. “And as a runner, I can assure you that my fight will last a long time. I will not get tired. I want to thank you all for running with me. I want to thank you all for your support and your prayers. Welcome to Georgia politics.”