Oklahoma student athletes will now have to sign a “biological sex affidavit” and compete on public school teams that match their biological sex.
The “Save Women’s Sports Act” was signed by Governor Kevin Stitt in March and has now gone into effect.
According to the law, “athletic teams designated for ‘females’, ‘women’ or ‘girls’ shall not be open to students of the male sex.”
Additionally, any student who is “deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers any direct or indirect harm” as a result of a school violating the law and allowing boys to compete will be permitted to sue. They will additionally be able to take legal action if they are “subject to retaliation or other adverse action by a school.”
Students will also be required to report “any change in the status of the biological sex of the student” to the school within 30 days.
“The reality is: Men are biologically different than women,” Gov. Stitt said while signing the bill into law. “Men have more muscle mass, their bones are larger and denser, they have larger lungs and wider airways. These are physical advantages men have over women on the field, in the pool, on the track or on the court.”
“So how is it fair for a female track athlete, or swimmer, who has been training since she was 12 years old to lose in high school to a biological male?” Gov. Stitt asked. “It’s not. It’s just not fair. And it will not happen in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, we stand with female athletes. In Oklahoma, we will protect women’s sports.”
Erin Matson, executive director Reproaction, a pro-abortion group, shared an image of one of the affidavits on Twitter.
Do you understand what is happening?
This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes.
This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda.
This is real. Shared with permission. pic.twitter.com/CGZ1SN5jr2
— Erin Matson (@erintothemax) July 28, 2022
“This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes,” Matson claimed in her tweet. “This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda.”
The affidavit is also included in the athletic policy of Woodall Public Schools in eastern Oklahoma.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has, of course, jumped into the fray.
Tamya Cox-Touré, ACLU of Oklahoma Executive Director, has claimed that the law is “promoting baseless fears about trans athletes.”
“Transgender people belong everywhere, but with the swipe of a pen and a public display, Governor Stitt has sent a clear message to Oklahoma’s vulnerable transgender youth that they are not welcome or accepted in our State,” Cox-Touré said in a statement. “SB2 is just one of many bills we have seen attacking our Two Spirit, transgender, and nonbinary communities this session, while overlooking the real issues with gender equality in sports when it comes to funding, resources, pay equity, and more. Promoting baseless fears about trans athletes does nothing to address those real problems.”
Cox-Touré continued by claiming that SB2 “violates the United States Constitution and federal civil rights law, puts Oklahoma at risk of losing federal funding, and harms transgender youth, all to solve a problem that does not exist.”
Kentucky and Idaho have recently passed similar legislation. There are now nineteen states with laws that prevent students from playing on teams that do not match their biological sex.
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