Georgia Democrats' frustration with anti-transgender bills boils over into a walkout

ATLANTA (AP) — Boxed into what they saw as an unsavory vote on outlawing spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners, Georgia Democrats chose a third option Wednesday. They walked out.

Chants of “Take a walk!” echoed under the gold dome of the state Capitol from dozens of House Democrats who said they’re exhausted by a blizzard of bills attacking transgender people.

The bill at hand, Senate Bill 185, would ban state prison spending on “sex reassignment surgeries,” hormone replacement therapy, or other surgeries “intended to alter the appearance of primary or secondary sexual characteristics.”

The 100-2 vote, which sent the measure to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto, was a chance for Republicans to embarrass Democrats on an issue that the GOP believes is unpopular with voters.

After Donald Trump hammered Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on her support for transgender people, including those in prison, during the campaign he has issued a series of executive orders trying to reverse President Joe Biden’s support for transgender rights.

The walkout reflected a broader frustration at other measures. Until this year, Georgia had moved cautiously on measures against transgender people, even as other Republican-led states pushed much farther.

Georgia lawmakers in 2022 passed a law that allowed the state high school athletic federation to rule out participation by transgender girls in high school sports.

But top Republicans including House Speaker Jon Burns and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones made it a priority this year to outlaw such participation in high school sports and add a prohibition on participation by trans women in college sports. That measure, Senate Bill 1, has received final passage.

In 2023, Georgia Republicans passed a law that banned gender confirming surgeries for those younger than 18. But unlike other states, they allowed youths already on hormone therapy to continue, and allowed puberty blocking drugs for those younger than 18.

This year, Senate Republicans have pushed to outlaw hormone therapies and puberty blockers for those younger than 18. House members have watered down Senate Bill 30 to still allow access to drugs if two physicians approve. Its fate remains unclear with the session scheduled to end Friday.

Georgia would move toward the forefront of anti-transgender legislation with a bill to outlaw state employee health insurance plans and the Medicaid health plan from paying for gender-affirming care. That measure is being pushed by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican and possible candidate for statewide office in 2026. It's also awaiting final action.

The Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights group, counts as many as 14 other states that ban transgender benefits in public employee health insurance. It also says there are as many as 10 states where Medicaid excludes transgender-related care.

In Georgia, lawsuits by employees, Medicaid recipients and prisoners led the state to settle lawsuits and grant transgender care benefits to each group. Opponents say the measures violate protections of the U.S. Constitution and legally binding agreements made when the state settled the suits. Republicans claim rewriting state law will let the state annul those settlements.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Tanya Miller of Atlanta attacked Republicans before the walkout over the prison care bill, noting testimony showed maybe five state inmates were seeking gender affirming care.

“What is going on with my colleagues that they have become obsessed with what is happening in transgender citizens’ pants and their underwear and their bedroom and their medical robes, when they talk to their doctors, when they deal with their families?" Miller asked.

House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, a Republican from Mulberry, said the Democratic walkout equals "support for taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for state prisoners.”

“To see members flee the chamber because they are unwilling to actually represent their constituency, put the vote on the board and let it be known to all Georgians where they stand is incredibly disappointing,” Efstration said.

The drama in Georgia came as transgender issues are debated in other states.

In California on Tuesday, a committee blocked bills meant to limit transgender athlete participatio n even after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he believed allowing trans athletes to compete in sports matching their gender identity was unfair. Nevada saw its high school athletic federation vote to limit students to sports aligning with their birth sex. Colorado is considering a bill that would define it as discrimination to refer to a transgender person by their gender or name from before they transitioned.

House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, a Columbus Democrat, dismissed Georgia Republicans' actions as “political theater.”

“People sent us here to do great work,” she said. “They did not send us here to bully people, to ostracize people, to discriminate against people.”

Georgia House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus) leads a Democratic walkout from a debate on a bill banning state spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Georgia House Democrats walk out from a debate on a bill banning state spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Democrats chant after a walkout from a debate on a bill banning state spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Georgia House Democrats chant after a walkout from a debate on a bill banning state spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Georgia House Democrats walk out of a debate on a bill banning state spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Georgia House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, center, speaks to the press after she and fellow Democrats walked out of the House Chamber as Senate Bill 185, which would outlaw spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners, was introduced at the state Capitol, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Georgia House Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, walk out of the House Chamber as Senate Bill 185, which would outlaw spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners, was introduced at the state Capitol, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Georgia House Democrats hold a protest on the north steps after walking out of the House Chamber as Senate Bill 185, which would outlaw spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners, was introduced at the state Capitol, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)