Experts say this ban is the first of its kind in the United States.
QUICK FACTS:
- Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that specifically bans the use of the nonbinary gender marker on the state birth certificates.
- According to Newsmax, this bill came after the Oklahoma State Department of Health agreed to allow “nonbinary” as an option following a civil case about gender designations last year.
- Currently, 15 states and the District of Columbia allow some gender designation to be chosen outside of male or female, and more are expected to implement the policy in 2022.
STATEMENTS FROM LAWMAKERS ABOUT THE BILL:
- “People are free to believe whatever they want about their identity, but science has determined people are either biologically male or female at birth,” said Oklahoma Rep. Sheila Dills, the House sponsor of the bill, in a statement after the bill passed the House last week. “We want clarity and truth on official state documents. Information should be based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue,” she added.
- “I find it a very extreme and grotesque use of power in this body to write this law and try to pass it — when literally none of them live like us,” Oklahoma City Democrat Rep. Mauree Turner tweeted the day the bill was debated.
BACKGROUND:
- People who identify themselves as “nonbinary” are those who do not feel they identify with traditional male or female gender assignments.
- The suit that prompted Republicans to create the bill came from an Oklahoma-born Oregon resident who sued the Oklahoma State Department of Health over adding the nonbinary designation to their certificates.
- The case caused pushback from Republicans who believe that the culture war in conservative states warranted executive and legislative attention.
