The Republican Oklahoma governor has signed a bill that prohibits the issuance of birth certificates with non-binary gender marks.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a new bill that bans non-binary gender marks on birth certificfates. SB 1100, which limits biological sex on birth certificates to only male and female, is the first of its kind in the U.S.
According to CBN News, the new law that bans non-binary birth certificates in the state of Oklahoma made permanent a previous executive order from Gov. Stitt, who blocked the state's Department of Health from issuing nonbinary birth certificates in 2021. The new law went into effect immediately upon the governor's signature on Tuesday.
The signing of the bill that bans non-binary birth certificates in the state of Oklahoma follows a civil case that allowed ain individual to have a nonbinary option. According to CBS 46, the birth certificate in question in the lawsuit was issued to an Oklahoma-born Oregon resident who filed a case after the Oklahoma State Department of Health refused the request. Nonbinary individuals do not identify as either male or female.
The Washington Examiner reported that the first non-binary birth certificate in Oklahoma was issued back in October 2021, a move that prompted outrage among Republicans, including Gov. Stitt. The Republican leader and his fellow conservatives then came together to take action against future issuances of non-binary birth certificates in the state.
"I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period," Gov. Stitt said at the time, as per the Christian Headlines. "There is no such thing as non-binary sex, and I wholeheartedly condemn the purported [Oklahoma State Department of Health] court settlement that was entered into by rogue activists who acted without receiving proper approval or oversight."
Republican Sen. Michael Bergstrom, who sponsored SB 1100, explained in a statement, "We must stand up and put a stop to this nonsense regarding biological sex. It's not a complicated issue - biologically, you're either a male or female. There should be no other option to choose from on a birth certificate."
Oklahoma Rep. Sheila Dills, who sponsored the bill in the House, argued, "People are free to believe whatever they want about their identity, but science has determined people are either biologically male or female at birth. We want clarity and truth on official state documents. Information should be based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue."
Across the U.S., 15 states and the District of Columbia allow a gender designation apart from male or female such as a non-binary or gender-neutral "X" option. Vermont will become the next state to allow such a designation when a new measure takes effect on July 1. Lambda Legal, a civil rights group that is suing Oklahoma over SB 1100, said that Oklahoma is the first to ban non-binary birth certificates through a law.
SB 1100 faced backlash from Oklahoma City Democrat Rep. Mauree Turner, the U.S.' first openly nonbinary legislator, who expressed pain over having other lawmakers single out gender diverse individuals. Turner, who uses they/them pronouns as they don't identify as male or female, described it as "a very extreme and grotesque use of power" to write and pass such a law "when literally none of them live like us."
