ATLANTA—Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (R-GA) sat down for an exclusive interview with Dome Politics and discussed the transgender community in Georgia and how the state legislature has addressed and will address the community in the future.
On the first day of the state legislative session, the LGBTQ+ community held a rally in opposition to Senate Bill 1, a piece of legislation that would bar transgender girls from competing in women's sports.
Dome Politics publisher Javier Manjarres asked Lt. Gov. Jones if the transgender community has been targeted, and whether there would be any sort of olive branch given toward it.
Lt. Gov. Jones responded, "I don't think anybody's been trying to marginalize one group over the other. What we have been doing is trying to protect women's sports. Girl's sports has been the thing that's been under attack, and it's been pushed by your mainstream media, and they've tried to normalize something that most people have rejected."
Later on, the Peach State's second-in-command shared that this issue is personal to him.
"Being a father of a daughter who's pretty athletic, [the] last thing I'd want is for her to lose a position or lose an event to someone who's a biological male in that same sport. So, that's really been the genesis of what we've been doing," said Jones.
Moreover, the Lt. Governor reaffirmed that there is no war on the LGBTQ+ community, and with the Riley Gaines-Lia Thomas story originating at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, the State of Georgia has somewhat of an obligation to take a stance on the issue.
However, Jones does not believe that Georgia is going after the group.
"That's just not accurate. That's just not accurate," said Jones. "We've had, for a couple of years now, the Georgia High School Association that has implemented the rule, and obviously [the Lia Thomas incident] was on Georgia Tech's campus a few years ago where we had Riley Gaines ... She was beaten by a biological male in the swimming event ... and we just want to be clear where we are as a state."
