Georgia Senate OKs bill to outlaw gender-affirming care for inmates in state custody

by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder
March 4, 2025

A bill banning gender-affirming treatments for inmates in state custody passed the Georgia Senate Monday.

Senate Bill 185’s sponsor, Cataula Republican Sen. Randy Robertson, said there are three lawsuits ongoing from inmates seeking gender-affirming care and he wants to nip the issue in the bud.

“When you see the tsunami coming, a lot of people wait until it’s at the shore, to start sandbagging and evacuating everybody and doing what you need to do,” he said. “I think if you look at the temperature that not only are we experiencing here in the United States, and obviously by these three lawsuits, people are attempting to do this, and it is the responsibility of this body and the body across the way to make sure we are prepared for what comes down the road, because as someone who understands crisis management and other things, you don’t wait.”

The bill passed with some bipartisan support, with several Democrats joining all Republicans voting in favor of the bill, and others simply not voting. Sens. Sonya Halpert, Ed Harbison and Elena Parent crossed party lines to support the bill, while Sens. Tonya Anderson, Jason Esteves, Randal Mangham and Nikki Merritt did not vote.

Roswell Republican Sen. John Albers gleefully pointed out the disunity among the Democrats.

“Let’s be honest, you as Democrats, in your own caucus are divided on this issue,” he said. “Throughout the last several votes, some of you voted with us, and others took a walk and did not vote at all. The overwhelming number of Georgians and Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, support this bill and the others. Candidly, if you vote against this bill, you are politically tone deaf.”

Parent proposed an amendment that would have allowed some inmates to continue taking hormones they had already been taking.

“I don’t believe that taxpayers should be responsible for funding the surgeries outlined in lines 68-69 and 71-72, including gender affirming surgeries, cosmetic procedures, or prosthetics,” Parent said. “But on the other hand, I believe that denying transgender prisoners access to gender affirming hormones that they are already taking, and in some cases may have been taking for years, is cruel and unnecessary.”

The Senate voted down the amendment.

Halpern characterized the bill as a distraction.

“Not one tax dollar in Georgia has ever been spent on sex change surgeries for inmates, so let’s not pretend this is about fiscal responsibility,” she said. “This bill simply makes explicit what is already the practice in Georgia, and yet here we are debating this as if it were some looming crisis, as if Georgia’s prisons were on the verge of becoming gender-affirming care centers at the taxpayer’s expense. Let me be clear, that is not the reality here in Georgia.”

“But I am also a pragmatist,” she added, “and the simple truth is that I cannot in good conscience support taxpayer-funded medical procedures for prisoners that we do not provide to law-abiding citizens who are struggling every day to afford basic health care.”

Democrats who opposed the bill characterized it as cruel and unconstitutional.

“I know good and well that public polling does not support gender-affirming care for people who are incarcerated,” said Stone Mountain Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson. “But I am keenly aware of our history, a history in which public opinion has often not been on the right side of justice, a history in which public polling has often sided with the majority and further isolated and forsaken the minority. I know this is not politically popular, but I stand here today urging my colleagues to vote no on this bill, to vote no as a sign of your commitment to humanity. Vote no for dignity. Colleagues, I beg you, do not let public polling persuade you to do something that you know in your heart is fundamentally unconstitutional, and quite frankly, is downright immoral.”

Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat, said the bill could be seen as a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

“The Eighth Amendment being the one that says no cruel and unusual punishment,” he said. “I.e. you can’t deny medical care while you’re incarcerated because you don’t have the means to go get your own care. You’re stuck. So the state has to provide your health care. And the study committee in question was the safety and welfare of all individuals in the Georgia Department of Corrections. And yet, this bill just exempts medical care from one group of those individuals.”

Robertson said he welcomes prospective lawsuits.

“People came to the committee and said this will open up more opportunity for individuals to sue, and my response to that is I’m fine with that,” he said. “Every piece of legislation that comes out of this building is subject to being challenged in court. We say it many times, you can write the best piece of legislation you want, but until it is evaluated and pressure-tested by a man or woman wearing a black robe, then you really don’t know how good the legislation is.”

The Senate separately passed a bill Monday banning puberty blocking medications for minors.

The Senate has previously passed anti-transgender bills including bills to ban gender-affirming treatments from transgender state employees and their children on the state health care plan and to keep transgender girls off girls’ school sports teams. The House has passed its own transgender sports ban. The bills have until April 4 to make it to the governor’s desk.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

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SUMMARY: Dr. Cora Thompson, an educator dedicated to shaping future teachers, channeled her grief over the loss of her dog, Angel, into a children’s book titled *Cora and Angel’s Furr-tastic Adventure*. Angel, a beloved companion, was adored by both Dr. Thompson and the Savannah State University community. After Angel’s death from cancer, Dr. Thompson wrote the book to celebrate their bond and to help children understand the lasting love between pets and their owners. The book also includes interactive questions to engage young readers, promoting learning and connection. It’s available on Amazon and Dr. Thompson’s website.

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Gold Dome Nuggets: Cornbread baked in state code, pronoun triggers and get along little DOGE

by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder
March 1, 2025

This week’s serving of Gold Dome Nuggets may contain traces of cornbread, Brunswick stew and 15-year-old funny dog pictures. Plus, should students read about plus-size women of color posing nude to increase their self-esteem?

Let’s dig in.

CORNBREAD

If Georgia were an insect, what kind of insect would it be?

That’s an easy one – the honeybee, the official state insect, as designated by the Legislature in 1975.

But how would one express the concept of Georgia as a fish? You could go with the official state fish, the largemouth bass – the obvious choice. But what about Georgia’s official state saltwater fish, the red drum? Or the mighty Southern Appalachian brook trout, the state’s official cold water game fish.

Every day, state leaders make weighty decisions like how to encapsulate Georgia’s rich history in a butterfly (the tiger swallowtail) or how to instill every Georgian heart with pride in the form of a folk dance (square dancing).

But while Georgia has an official prepared food — grits — the state has no official state bread.

Dalton Republican Rep. Kasey Carpenter wants to correct that oversight, and he’s revived a bill that would enshrine cornbread as Georgia’s official state bread.

Carpenter shepherded a cornbread bill through the House in 2024, but it failed to get a vote in the Senate.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: we used every cornbread pun known to mankind last year, so that’s why there aren’t any here.)

“It’s back, baby, it’s back, it’s a reunion tour,” Carpenter said from the House floor Wednesday before the vote on this year’s bill.

The House approved elevating cornbread to the state’s latest symbol 157-4, but not before peppering Carpenter with questions.

“Is it also a possibility that we could label any cornbread not made from the state as foreign cornbread?” asked Dawsonville Republican Rep. Brent Cox, a reference to a recently-passed bill requiring restaurants to label imported shrimp (the official state crustacean).

“I don’t think we’re gonna go that far,” Carpenter said with a laugh.

Marietta Democratic Rep. Mary Frances Williams tossed out a cultural hand grenade:

“Can you answer the age-old question that has caused many a family break-up and fight: do you or do you not add sugar to cornbread?” she asked.

A consummate politician, Carpenter tried to play to both sides.

“I do add a pinch of sugar,” Carpenter said. “I think if you study the history of cornbread, the corn used to be a lot sweeter than it is now once they started mass producing.”

Cornbread was not the only Southern delicacy to earn special distinction from the House Wednesday.

Rep. Rick Townsend, a Republican from Brunswick, presented a bill to name Brunswick stew Georgia’s official state stew.

“It goes with many things, whether it’s biscuits, crackers, and especially cornbread,” Townsend said. “It’s delicious stew.”

Not everyone agreed with Townsend’s assessment. Macon Democratic Rep. Miriam Paris displayed a surprising amount of antipathy toward the tomato-based stew.

“Is it not true that if you took a poll in here today, that this bill would lose?” Paris asked. “If you took a poll in here today, would it not be that 51% of these people would say they don’t like Brunswick stew?”

“It would still be the best stew in Georgia,” Townsend said.

As it turns out, they did take a poll. The House voted 152-2 to make Brunswick stew the official state stew, with Paris and Dallas Republican Rep. Joseph Gullett opposed.

Paris did not respond to a request for comment.

DEI

A Q and A on a bill in a Senate Committee Thursday started with a question about the presenter’s pronouns.

“Let me start off with a couple of questions. What’s your pronoun?” asked Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican.

“Your majesty or your highness,” said Tyrone Republican Sen. Marty Harbin.

“That’s interesting,” Burns said with a laugh. “Does that question offend you?”

“I know what I am, and I know that I am a male, and I would take he and him, and that’s where I am. I believe there are two sexes, male and female,” Harbin said.

The two were discussing a bill Harbin said would remove diversity, equity and inclusion programs from Georgia’s public and private universities. It was not scheduled for a vote.

Harbin said DEI programs have become tools of ideology rather than inclusion.

“Too often they result in a campus culture where dissenting viewpoints are silenced, where professors fear retribution for presenting alternate perspectives and where students self censor themselves to avoid accusations of insensitivity or bias,” he said. “Academic institutions should encourage the marketplace of ideas and not a dogmatic adherence to a singular worldview. When certain perspectives are deemed unacceptable simply because they do not align with DEI principles, we replace education with indoctrination.”

Several dozen people came to the committee to oppose the bill.

“When we learn about different cultures, perspectives, and histories, we become better thinkers, leaders, and citizens,” said high school student Laila Erold. “This bill attempts to stifle that growth, and I will not stand by and let it happen. By silencing discussions on race and identity, SB 120 perpetuates ignorance and fear. It tells us that our struggles don’t matter, that our voices don’t matter. We’re not just students, we are activists, and we will fight for our right to learn in an environment that embraces rather than shuns diversity.”

Harbin said he was bringing the bill on behalf of a constituent’s daughter who had several galling experiences at Georgia College and State University.

“When she joined her sorority, she was required to pick a pronoun to describe her and what she was. And she said, ‘I know what I am. I should not be required –’ but she was required, in order to join, she was required to have to fill out the form as it was,” he said.

The freshman had another problem with one of the texts in her English class, Harbin said.

“The requirement was this article, this was read, had to be read in class,” he said. “And I will not read the title of it. You can read the title yourself there because I don’t want to offend anybody, but if you read that, that was read in class by each of the students, (they) had to sit there and go through that and read different parts of this, and she was extremely offended.”

The title of the article was “I’m a plus-size woman of color. Posing nude in front of strangers helped my self-esteem.”

DOGE

For centuries, the word “doge” was nothing but a childish misspelling for man’s best friend. For a brief window from about 2013 to 2025, doge described a silly little dog that people on the internet could use to make jokes, as well as a niche cryptocurrency.

But from January to an unknown point in the future, DOGE is the Department of Government Efficiency, a chaotic government agency dedicated to rooting out waste, spearheaded by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

Sandy Springs Democratic Sen. Josh McLaurin may have become the first Georgia senator to take to the well with an internet meme printed out on Senate letterhead Monday when he wielded a picture of the doge meme to speak against Georgia’s “Red Tape Rollback Act,” which supporters billed as Georgia’s version of DOGE.

In the broken English typical of doge memes, McLaurin’s picture read “so Senate, Red, very tape, much legal, wow.”

McLaurin is accustomed to using humor to make a political point – he regularly takes on the persona of a news anchor to roast President Donald Trump’s second administration from the Senate well, sometimes earning chuckles even from his Trump-supporting Republican colleagues.

He said he used the doge prop to illustrate the disdain he says the administration shows toward institutions and the people who make them up.

“I think the challenge with using humor in politics is it’s got to be a type of fun that everybody can get behind, or at least most people can get behind, that’s not at somebody else’s expense,” he said. “Genuine fun for the sake of fun lightens all our spirits, but when somebody is couching something destructive or mean or insulting as a quote-unquote ‘joke,’ then it takes on a different character. That’s my criticism of the use of the doge meme federally, is that it’s being used to dismantle the government, to strand USAID employees overseas, to fire a bunch of people illegally who do great work and depend on those paychecks. There’s some things that a meme can’t make funny, and that’s in that category.”

Speaking with the Recorder about memes and humor in politics Friday, McLaurin used Vice President JD Vance – McLaurin’s former college roommate – as an example of someone who uses comedy to punch down.

McLaurin referred to a 2021 tweet from Vance after actor and outspoken Trump critic Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer while filming a movie. Vance called on Twitter’s then-CEO to reinstate Trump’s then-canceled account so the then-former president could comment on his detractor’s misfortune, which many panned as insensitive in the wake of the tragic accident.

“When he was confronted about that, he said something like, ‘the country wants authenticity and wants people to lighten up,’” McLaurin said. “My sense is that the country does want people to lighten up. The country does want authenticity. But the country doesn’t want leaders who are authentically an a–hole.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

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