A Georgia Senate study committee that bills itself as tasked with protecting women’s sports met Thursday for the last time before it is set to release recommendations before next year’s legislative session, and transgender Georgians are bracing themselves.

At Thursday’s hearing, transgender women and allies argued that vanishingly few transgender women participate in school sports, and those who do are largely not at the top of the competitive heap. Many said the national focus is making life difficult.

“It’s so hard to face this kind of opposition,” said Aaron Baker, a transgender woman and activist. “It’s so hard to be at a hearing like this and hear the language. It’s so hard for you to hear people describe me as a biological man because it’s not

true. I am hormonally female, I’m phenotypically female, I’m psychologically female, and that is a gross oversimplification of who I am and my identity, and it hurts.”

Committee Chair Greg Dolezal, a Cumming Republican, told members he would spend the next week or so reviewing testimony from the committee’s three hearings and plans to announce the date for presenting recommendations shortly after. Study committee recommendations could take the form of proposed legislation in time for the 2025 General Assembly, which is set to begin Jan. 13.

Dolezal indicated he is interested in considering regulations for college sports. A previous hearing featured testimony from cisgender women college swimmers who said they were placed at an unfair disadvantage when they had to compete against a transgender woman at a competition at Georgia Tech.

“A few years ago, I believe it was three years ago, the General Assembly passed a bill essentially prescribing the control to make decisions around transgender participation in sports to the Georgia High School Association, they passed a resolution that stated that participation in sports, high school sports, in the state of Georgia was based on the sex prescribed on a birth certificate. The law is currently silent on the collegiate competition level. So right now, we just have a law as it relates to high school associations,” he said.

Other Republicans on the committee suggested they would like to see legislation in K-12 schools, especially surrounding restrooms and locker rooms.

“As a father of two young daughters, we’ve got to protect women,” said Gwinnett Republican Sen. Clint Dixon. “We’ve got to protect their sports, we’ve got to protect them in changing rooms from what we heard from many of those athletes who testified, four or five of them who testified in the first committee hearing, having to change, which took 20, 30 minutes at a time, in front of a transgender female, but still had the genitalia of a male, which was horrific for them to witness that, some of them ended up changing in a storage closet, some of them waited until that athlete left the room, having to miss some of their competition, and that’s just at the college level, we’re not even talking about minors in K-12.”

Some activists indicated that they would oppose any kind of restriction on transgender participation, while speakers like Lambda Legal attorney Sasha Buchert urged the lawmakers to take a nuanced approach over a blanket ban, which could mean a committee including medical experts to consider safety or competitive concerns on a case-by-case basis. Others said such decisions should be left to athletic associations and leagues rather than politicians or political appointees.

“Sports are already managed by expert organizations like the NCAA, the International Olympics Committee, and professional leagues,” said Delfina Booth, a former Georgia Tech student and high school athlete who said she has lost transgender friends to police violence and suicide.

“These governing bodies have developed policies over decades that analyze fairness based on unique needs of each sport,” she added. “Contact sports have different rules than non-contact sports, children’s sports focus more on teamwork and development than adult sports, et cetera. These nuances cannot be addressed through broad government legislation. Additionally, decisions about athletic ability involve multiple complex factors, including the signs of physical development and the specific demands of each sport. These aren’t matters that lend themselves directly or easily to blanket rules.”

The N.C. State Wolfpack and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets play in primetime on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN) at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Week 13 of the college football season.

Coming off an idle week, the Wolfpack (5-5, 2-4 ACC) needs to win one of its final two games to become bowl eligible for the fifth straight season. But it won’t be an easy task taking on the Yellow Jackets (6-4, 4-3) in Atlanta, where N.C. State has lost 11 of 15 games in the series.

The Wolfpack hasn’t won at Georgia Tech since 2010.

NC State vs GT preview, prediction

Keep this page refreshed and bookmarked for live updates for N.C. State vs. Georgia Tech.

NC State vs Georgia Tech score

Live scoreboard:

What channel is NC State vs Georgia Tech today?

TV Channel: ESPN

Livestream: Fubo (free trial), ESPN+

Watch NCSU vs. GT on Fubo

N.C. State vs. Georgia Tech will be broadcast nationally on ESPN in Week 13 of the 2024 college football season. Matt Barrie and Dan Mullen will call the game from the booth at Bobby Dodd Stadium, with Harry Lyles Jr. reporting from the sidelines. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers. Matt Chazanow, Johnny Evans and Tony Haynes will have the radio call on the Wolfpack Sports Network.

NC State vs Georgia Tech start time

Date: Thursday, Nov. 21

Start time: 7:30 p.m.

Buy NCSU vs GT tickets here

The N.C. State vs. Georgia Tech game starts at 7:30 p.m. from Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

NC State vs Georgia Tech history

Series record: Georgia Tech 20-11

NC State’s last win: 2020 (23-13)

Georgia Tech’s last win: 2019 (28-26)

NC State vs Georgia Tech prediction

Georgia Tech 30, N.C. State 23: The Yellow Jackets will remain undefeated at home behind a big effort from quarterback Haynes King. The Wolfpack will head to Chapel Hill for the regular-season finale, needing a win to play in the postseason.

NC State vs Georgia Tech spread, betting odds

Game lines and odds from BetMGM will be posted as they become available.

Spread: Georgia Tech is an 8.5-point favorite

Over/under: 52.5 points

Moneyline: N.C. State (+270), Georgia Tech (-350)

NC State vs Georgia Tech weather

Temperatures for kickoff will be around 44 degrees under clear skies in Atlanta, Georgia. Winds will be between 8-16 mph, with gusts up to 38 mph.

NC State vs Georgia Tech injury updates

This section will updated in the pregame.

NC State schedule 2024

• Aug. 29: Western Carolina (W, 38-21)
• Sept. 7: Tennessee (L, 51-10)
• Sept. 14: Louisiana Tech (W, 30-20)
• Sept. 21: at Clemson (L, 59-35)
• Sept. 28: Northern Illinois (W, 24-17)
• Oct. 5: Wake Forest (L, 34-30)
• Oct. 12: Syracuse (L, 24-17)
• Oct. 19: at Cal (W, 24-23)
• Oct. 26: OPEN
• Nov. 2: Stanford (W, 59-28)
• Nov. 9: Duke (L, 29-19)
• Nov. 16: OPEN
• Nov. 21: at Georgia Tech (Thursday)
• Nov. 30: at UNC

Georgia Tech schedule 2024

• Aug. 24: Florida State (W, 24-21)
• Aug. 31: Georgia State (W, 35-12)
• Sept. 7: at Syracuse (L, 31-28)
• Sept. 14: VMI (W, 59-7)
• Sept. 21: at Louisville (L, 31-19)
• Sept. 28: OFF
• Oct. 5: Duke (W, 24-14)
• Oct. 12: at UNC (W, 41-34)
• Oct. 19: Notre Dame (L, 31-13)
• Oct. 26: at Virginia Tech (L, 21-6)
• Nov. 2: OFF
• Nov. 9: Miami (W, 28-23)
• Nov. 16: OFF
• Nov. 21: NC State (Thursday)
• Nov. 29: at Georgia

Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com.

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

Three Georgia residents are accusing Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens of violating their free speech rights, alleging in a lawsuit that he silenced their critical opinions on Facebook following a viral incident in which he called deputies to a Burger King over a botched order. 

The legal filing in U.S. District Court lists David Cavender – a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Owens for the sheriff position this election season – as one of the plaintiffs. 

“Defendant Craig Owens was displeased that certain persons, including the Plaintiffs, were publicly criticizing his performance as the Sheriff of Cobb County, Georgia,” the lawsuit says. “Instead of upholding the First Amendment and stomaching speech he found personally distasteful, Owens decided instead to utilize the powers of his office to censor the speech of Plaintiffs, and others, based on viewpoint.” 

An attorney wrote that in October, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, a video that emerged of “Owens utilizing Cobb County Sheriff deputies to intercede in a personal dispute with Burger King employees became viral” and that the plaintiffs “had been leveling harsh criticism against Owens” over it and other matters. 

GEORGIA SHERIFF CALLS DEPUTIES FOR HELP AFTER BECOMING UPSET THAT BURGER KING GOT HIS ORDER WRONG 

READ THE FILING BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

In that March 2023 incident, three deputies were dispatched to the fast-food restaurant in Mableton with sirens blaring. 

“Hey, do me a favor. I need to get, all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this damn facility or the manager,” Owens is heard telling one deputy who showed up on scene. 

“I wanted her [to get his female passenger] a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?” he continued. 

The sheriff added: “I don’t need no damn money back no more. I just need to find out who owns this place so I can do an official complaint.” 

The lawsuit says on Oct. 29 of this year, Owens put in place “sweeping restrictions” over who can post comments on the Cobb County Sheriff Office’s Facebook page. 

EX-GEORGIA POLL WORKER INDICTED FOR MAILING BOMB THREAT TO POLLING PLACE: FBI 

“On information and belief, these restrictions were put in place because of the viewpoint of commenters’ posts grew increasingly critical of Owens and his performance as Sheriff; in other words Owens put the restrictions in place to prevent the expression of a viewpoint,” the lawsuit says, adding that some of the posts made by the plaintiffs were deleted or hidden by the Sheriff’s Office Facebook account. 

The Sheriff’s Office then wrote on Nov. 1 that it is “committed to providing a safe and respectful space on our social media channels.  

“To keep our posts focused on community safety updates and educational info, we’ve turned off the comments feature,” it added. 

The lawsuit is asking a judge to “declare the actions of Defendant Owens… to be view-point based restrictions in violation of the First Amendment”, prohibit his “unlawful practice of retaliatory censorship” and to prevent him “from deleting comments, blocking posters, or restricting commenters to those who are friends or referenced within posts,” among other damages. 

The lawsuit against Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens states the plaintiffs posted critical comments of him online following an incident involving the sheriff at a Burger King in Georgia last year. (Getty Images)

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Both the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and the law firm that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.