OK Gov Signs Ban on Nonbinary Birth Certificates

The bill followed a flap last year over the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s agreement in a civil case allowing a nonbinary option.  The birth certificate in that case was issued to an Oklahoma-born Oregon resident who sued after the agency initially refused the request.  

People who are nonbinary do not identify with traditional male or female gender assignments. News of the settlement prompted outrage among Republicans, including Governor Stitt, who along with fellow conservatives in a number of GOP-led states have been engaged in a culture war over issues like restricting LGBTQ and abortion rights.

Stitt’s appointee to lead the agency abruptly resigned the next day, and the governor then promptly issued an executive order prohibiting any changes to a person’s gender on birth certificates— despite the settlement agreement.

Many states only offer male or female gender options on birth certificates, but Oklahoma (OK) is the first to write the nonbinary prohibition into law, according to Lambda Legal, the civil rights group suing OK.  Currently, 15 states and the District of Columbia specifically allow a gender marker designation outside of male or female, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.  That number will increase on July 1 when Vermont’s new statute goes into effect.

“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 OK 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.”

OK’s governor earlier this year signed a bill prohibiting transgender girls from playing on female sports teams— one of many such bans being signed into law across the country. Other conservative states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas have passed laws prohibiting gender-confirming treatments for minors.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel