ATLANTA, Georgia: Transgender boys and girls will be banned from playing on Georgia high school sports teams.

The Georgia High School Association’s executive committee, meeting in Thomaston, voted unanimously this week for the change, saying that students must play on teams that match the sex listed on their birth certificates at birth.

“Everyone should have an opportunity to participate, but the field of play should be fair,” said Cole Muzio, president of the conservative Frontline Policy Council, which lobbied for the action.

“GHSA’s action today recognizes science, reflects reality and restores fairness,” he told the Associated Press.

Republican Governor Brian Kemp, running for reelection, embraced the ban. When he signed a bill last week reiterating GHSA’s power to ban transgender athletes, Kemp said he wanted to “protect fairness in school sports.”

Opponents said excluding transgender children would send a harmful message to a group that’s already vulnerable to suicide or harming themselves.

“To these very vulnerable trans kids who do appear to have substantial mental health issues, they will receive this as a message of rejection,” said state Sen. Sally Harrell, an Atlanta Democrat and the mother of a transgender child.

At least 12 Republican-led states have passed laws banning transgender women or girls in sports.

The spotlight swung to GHSA after Georgia lawmakers, unable to agree on a law banning transgender students from playing sports matching their gender identity, passed House Bill 1084 reiterating GHSA’s existing power to regulate the issue.

The last-minute deal was reached after Kemp nudged lawmakers to act on the final night of Georgia’s legislative session.

Republican House Speaker David Ralston of Blue Ridge had blocked the law, but agreed to the compromise.

However, Ralston spokesperson Kaleb McMichen said that the House Speaker had not talked to the association about the subject.

“We don’t have a comment on GHSA’s decision – it was theirs to make,” McMichen said.