Content warning: This article mentions suicide. A list of resources is included at the bottom of the story.
The upcoming Oklahoma 2023 legislative session features three bills that would restrict or ban access to gender-confirming care.
Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow) filed two bills to prohibit public funding for gender-confirming procedures and treatments for minors under 18, Senate Bill 250 and Senate Bill 252, respectively. Additionally, Sen. David Bullard, (R-Durant), filed Senate Bill 129 that proposes a ban on gender-confirming procedures in Oklahoma for patients under 26 years old.
SB 250 defines "gender transition procedures" as medical services that alter features typical of an individual’s biological sex, but it does not include services provided to intersex people. According to a study from the University of California, San Francisco, gender-confirming surgeries include a range of procedures specific to gender affirmation, as well as common procedures performed on cisgender people.
SB 250 also would prohibit public funding for providers if they perform gender-transition procedures. SB 252 would ban any gender reassignment treatments for Oklahomans under 18 and threaten providers with revocation of their licenses. SB 129 would only allow gender-confirmation procedures for those at least 26 years old and restrict physicians from referring patients under 26 for gender confirmation.
Daryl Callaway, Norman Pride treasurer, said the influx of anti-trans legislation is a result of Senate Bill 3, which effectively halted gender-confirmation procedures in the OU Health system last September.
“It was just the first step in their campaign to control and restrict — and even criminalize — people that are anyone that has anything to do with the 2SLGBTQ+ community,” Callaway said.
After signing SB 3 into law, Gov. Kevin Stitt called for Oklahoma legislators to ban gender-confirming treatments and procedures on minors in the state. Stitt said the ban should extend to all hospitals and not just OU Health or the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to what’s happening all across our nation, and as governor I will not allow life-altering transition surgeries on minor children in the state of Oklahoma,” Stitt said when he announced SB 3.
Paula Sophia Schonauer, a trans woman and licensed clinical social worker at Legacy Family Services Inc., said the Oklahoma Legislature has been slowly working toward extremes, calling back to the dissolution of the Roy G. Biv Program as a result of SB 3.
“What they're moving toward is a general ban as their ultimate goal in an attempt to make transgender people disappear,” Schonauer said.
Schonauer is a therapist who works with gender-diverse teens and young adults in institutions like the Central Oklahoma Community Mental Health Center. She said trans people are stressed about the situation in the Oklahoma Legislature, saying she knew of a young trans woman who recently died by suicide as a result of this stress.
In the Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health survey, 22 percent of young trans men, 12 percent of young trans women and 19 percent of nonbinary youths attempted suicide, according to the survey.
Statistics from the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health show gender-confirming care and affirming support networks are vital to lowering rates of adverse mental health outcomes for trans youths.
Additionally, the survey found that 93 percent of trans and nonbinary youths fear they will be denied access to gender-confirming care due to state or local legislation.
Ezra Koenig, a trans man and president of the OU LGBTQ+ Student Alliance, said the lack of support for gender-diverse people in the Oklahoma government can lead to suicidal ideation for those in the trans community.
“Either they don't want to be on this Earth anymore, or they are trying to find every way possible to get out of Oklahoma, which for a lot of people, is not possible,” Koenig said.
Lydia Burger, who is nonbinary and a public and nonprofit administration and microbiology senior at OU, said statistics support gender-confirming care’s effectiveness.
“We know of the statistics showing that gender-affirming care is beneficial for trans youth, their mental health, their physical health, their health all around,” Burger said.
Callaway agreed, adding that science proves the benefits of gender-confirming care.
“If they would actually get into the science and what’s best care for people, they would understand that just banning gender-affirming care has wide-reaching ramifications for people, even people outside of the transgender community,” Callaway said.
Some people require various types of hormone treatment for health reasons unrelated to gender identity, like people using estrogen to combat adverse physical effects from menopause.
Burger said more people need to be fighting these bills since they affect people outside of the trans community.
Schonauer said many people have a misconstrued idea of what gender-confirming care is, explaining that it is like how medical professionals approach any patient.
“Gender-affirming care, generally, is what medical professionals should do with anybody. … Meeting the person where they are, as who they are, and giving the care that benefits them and helps them be more autonomous … more self-actualized,” Schonauer said. “That’s what gender-affirming care really is.”
The argument that treatments are irreversible is used against gender-confirming care for minors. Burger said they disagree with this, noting that certain types of gender-confirming care can become less effective as a person ages.
“Puberty is irreversible, and so some of these methods of gender-affirming care, like puberty blockers, are to prevent irreversible, detrimental changes happening to these trans youth,” Burger said.
The Mayo Clinic agrees that pubertal blockers are essential in relieving feelings of gender dysphoria in trans youths. The website states that physical changes from puberty can cause intense gender dysphoria in gender-nonconforming adolescents.
Schonauer said an increasing number of trans people want to transition younger, as the body goes through more irreversible changes as it ages, such as puberty. This way, they have a better chance at passing as the gender they identify with, Schonauer said.
Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman), who has a trans son, said he believes the Oklahoma Legislature has a misconception of the number of trans Oklahomans. He said having conversations with representatives in person is a good way to make the trans community’s presence known.
“It's still worth it, especially parents of transgender kids, to come up and speak to representatives and senators,” Rosecrants said.
Koenig and Burger agreed, saying Oklahoma legislators underestimate how many 2SLGBTQ+ people there are in Oklahoma, and more specifically, who are trans. Burger said they’re concerned and frustrated that state legislators do not listen to 2SLGBTQ+ constituents.
“They have no understanding of who Oklahomans are and who they are actually representing,” Koenig said.
Callaway said the continued targeting of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in state politics is not unlike other marginalized groups in society.
“They often like to make us the 'other' because it makes it easier for them to use us as scapegoats for problems in society or to gain political favor and votes,” Callaway said.
He also said it’s not surprising to see these types of bills this session, stating there have been other bills across the country about these same issues. Callaway said the Legislature’s tendency to follow national trends has tangible, harmful impacts at the individual level.
Rosecrants and Schonauer both agreed this type of legislation becomes serious when it comes to a floor vote, especially in Oklahoma. Rosecrants said moderate Republicans in the state House and Senate will most likely vote in favor of these bills because of political pressure within the party.
Schonauer expressed similar sentiments to Rosecrants, saying legislation like this will pass on the floor because Republicans in the Legislature have to play to their face. Rosecrants, however, said he hopes appealing to moderates before anti-trans legislation makes it to the floor will decrease the odds of these bills being passed.
Schonauer agreed that one of the most effective ways to defeat the numerous bills regarding the restriction of gender-confirming care is through committee.
“If we can appeal to people in committee and appeal to people … their fair-mindedness and the possible economic fallout, then I think we have a chance of seeing a lot of this stuff defeated,” Schonauer said.
In reference to SB 129, Koenig said the bill changed the meaning of ‘Save the Kids’.
It’s no longer about the kids when legislators are proposing the criminalization of providers who provide to adult trans people, Koenig said.
Rosecrants said it would not matter if some of these bills are passed as far as stopping gender-confirming care for trans people in the state.
“They’re still going to get it done, but it just made it a lot harder … especially on the families who just want their kids to feel safe in their own skin,” Rosecrants said.
Because of the proposed criminalization of gender-confirming care providers in the state, Koenig and Schonauer said they predict providers who specialize in gender-confirming care will be leaving the state, even if the bills are not passed. The increased difficulty and waiting time for trans youths seeking gender-confirming care will cause strain on their mental health, Schonauer said.
“It’s going to be a huge impact because there’s going to be fewer doctors that are going to be offering care because they don’t want to take the risk of losing their medical practice,” Schonauer said.
Burger, Schonauer, Rosecrants, Callaway and Koenig said they are concerned for the future of gender-diverse people’s rights in Oklahoma, as a bill like this would open the door for more anti-trans legislation.
“The medical professionals are trained in what they do. They're the experts on the subject, and I'm sick of politicians acting like they are the experts on medical care,” Burger said. “Medicalizing and creating fear around a group of other people is always the first step to some much darker things.”
Trevor Project: 866-488-7386, available through call, text or chat for 2SLGTBQ+ youths under 25.
GLBT National Help Center: 888-843-4564, available through call, online chat or email peer support.
SAGE: 877-360-5428, available 24/7 for 2SLGBTQ+ elders, their loved ones and caretakers.
This story was edited by Karoline Leonard, Jazz Wolfe and Alexia Aston. Francisco Gutierrez and Alexandra Powell-Lorentzatos copy edited this story.
