Oklahoma House of Representatives have passed Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) which bans transgender girls and women from participating in sports.
The amended Senate Bill targets trans women and girls at the elementary, secondary, or post-secondary level of education, and requires parents to submit an annual affidavit “acknowledging the biological sex of the student at birth” to allow their child to participate in school state sports.
SB 2, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, was passed on Monday (April 20) and states “Athletic teams designated for ‘females,’ ‘women’ or ‘girls’ shall not be open to students of the male sex”.
The summary of the recently passed bill calls for “certain athletic teams to be designated based on biological sex.” Oklahoma House passed the Senate Bill with a high majority reaching a 73-19 vote.
Author of the controversial anti-trans Senate Bill, Rep. Toni. Hasenbeck, said she did not design the bill “to be cruel”.
“I do not want any person to leave here thinking that the design of this bill is to be cruel or to be mean to a group of children,” Hasenbeck told the Daily Oklahoman.
“It is simply to protect the rights of young women so they do not have to compete against males, who are biologically and physiologically better able to run (and) jump higher and faster.”
Former Oklahoma State Senator Allison Ikley-Freeman told Los Angeles Blade the GOP-passed bill is an “unnecessary and hateful” act.
The House District Tulsa representative said: “Bills like this are just the latest example of this anti-transgender stigma that does nothing to save women’s sports, but it does lead to increased risk factors and creates a culture of violence and fear in the lives of the folks who are targeted in this bill,” she said.
Speaking to the Daily Oklahoman, nonbinary state lawmaker Rep. Mauree Turner said state lawmakers should be creating laws that encourage inclusivity for Oklahoma children.
“We are not providing a safe and welcoming place for our children,” Turner said. “We are not providing a place for people to civically engage in a way that they feel seen and heard. You’re not providing a place where I feel comfortable.”
There are more than 234 anti-LGBTQ bills under consideration in state legislatures across the US.
There are 122 proposed bills that directly discriminate against transgender people and more than 60 of these bills, like the Women’s Sports Act, ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.
