GA senate committee meeting for the ‘protection of women’s sports’

Tuesday is the first meeting of Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones’ Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports.

The lieutenant governor formed the committee earlier this month as the Olympic Games in Paris shined a light on transgender athletes competing on a world stage.

Channel 2 Action News will be at the Tuesday morning committee meeting and will have all of the details on Channel 2 Action News at Noon.

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“As the ongoing Olympic games demonstrate, women athletes make outstanding contributions to the sports landscape around the world, and they must be given a fair opportunity to compete and shine,” Jones wrote in a statement.

He says the committee was created to investigate the policies of athletic associations, schools, colleges and universities as it relates to the “protection of women’s sports.”

Controversy arose during the Olympics after 25-year-old Italian boxer Angela Carini broke down in tears after withdrawing in the middle of her match with Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and claims on social media that Khelif was born male. Khelif does not identify as transgender and was born a female.

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“As a state, we must do all we can to see that women’s sports and their rights are not threatened,” Jones went on to write.

The committee is made up of Republican and Democratic state senators and will be dissolved by the end of the year.

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