House Bill 3120, authored by Seminole Republican Rep. Danny Williams, would amend the Parents’ Bill of Rights allowing them to opt in for sex education and would require schools to establish policies prohibiting the use of certain pronouns. In addition, it would ban instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity and require parental permission for AIDS education, and would allow parents to object to learning materials or activities that question beliefs or practices in sex, morality and religion.
House Bill 3217, otherwise known as the “Patriotism Not Pride Act,” was filed by Oklahoma City Republican Rep. Kevin West. It aims to prohibit state funds from being used by any agency “to develop, organize, administer, engage in, promote, or endorse any activity, including any event, initiative, official communication, social media post, educational program, or public campaign, that aims to promote or recognize Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Pride Month or any event with a similar theme.” It also bans flags that represent sexual orientation or gender identity on state property or grounds.
We're guessing Rep. West wouldn't care for how a Pride flag flew at Dallas city hall last June.
Another bill authored by West, House Bill 3219, would prohibit people in Oklahoma from changing their biological sex on their birth certificates. Senate Bill 1530 is another bill that sets its sights on sexual orientation and gender identity. It would require state and political subdivisions to identify people as either male or female when gathering data and statistics. The bill was authored by Duncan Republican Sen. Jessica Gavin and is being dubbed the “Women’s Bill of Rights.”
Senate Bill 1677 would make changes to adoption and fostering requirements for parents. Specifically, the bill would prohibit the state’s department of human services from requiring adoption or foster parents “to affirm or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the parent’s sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.” It would also prohibit the department from denying adoption or fostering for their sexual orientation and gender identity beliefs."Each of these bills are rooted in some level of misinformation ..." – Nicole McAfee, Freedom Oklahoma
tweet this
The “Medical Ethics Defense Act” or House Bill 3214, enables any medical practitioner, healthcare institution or healthcare payer to decline a medical procedure based on their conscience, and allows religious medical practitioners, healthcare institutions and healthcare payers “the right to make employment, staffing, contracting, and admitting privilege decisions consistent with its religious beliefs.”
Then, there’s House Bill 3216, which has made it out of committee. The bill would create a database of patients who received abortion services in the state and ban contraception that could induce abortions or prevent the implantation of fertilized eggs, according to Oklahoma Watch.
Dozens of bills like these were filed in the Oklahoma Legislature, but many didn’t make it out of committees.
“Each of these bills comes with dangerous rhetoric that Oklahomans do not have the opportunity to correct on the record, because we live in a state where the legislature has removed public testimony from the legislative process,” Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, told the Observer by email. “Each of these bills are rooted in some level of misinformation, which we know can be parroted and spread to harass 2SLGBTQ+ folks, especially youth.”
McAfee encouraged Oklahomans to reach out to their representatives to ask that the bills not be heard.
"Texas and Oklahoma's governors and legislative leadership have failed residents in both states in recent years by enacting harmful policies and perpetuating hateful rhetoric that hurts and singles out transgender people, LGBTQ youth, and people of color,” GLAAD's President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told the Observer in an emailed statement. “Both states have passed bans on lifesaving health care for transgender people, bans on allowing educators or students to discuss issues regarding race or LGBTQ topics in schools, and bans on allowing transgender students fair and equal opportunities at school.”
Ellis said LGBTQ people simply want to work hard, take care of their families and go about their lives knowing that they will be assured safety and dignity. Ellis added, “The pervasive anti-LGBTQ vitriol by leading elected officials and institutions out of Texas and Oklahoma is nothing more than an attempt to force LGBTQ people back into the closet and to erase us from existence, but that will never happen — we are here to stay.”
