OKLAHOMA CITY - In response to the House Criminal Justice and Corrections committee advancing amended language to Representative Hasenbeck and Senator Bergstrom’s Senate Bill 2 attacking transgender youth in sports, Freedom Oklahoma and ACLU of Oklahoma issued the following statements:
The following is attributable to Allie Shinn, Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director:
“SB 2 would prevent transgender young people from participating in sports. Robbing transgender kids of the opportunity to participate in sports can result in serious lasting harm to vulnerable children. We know that transgender kids, like all kids, want the opportunity to be part of a team where they feel like they belong. Robbing children of opportunities to feel wanted, included, and part of a team is a particular cruelty that only the most extreme Legislators would support. Sports are an important way for children to learn invaluable lessons like leadership, confidence, self-discipline, and teamwork. Taking this opportunity from transgender children will do nothing to protect other children and do so much to harm kids who just want to be treated with fairness and respect. We strongly urge the legislature to reject this bill.”
The following is attributable to Nicole McAfee, ACLU of Oklahoma Director of Policy and Advocacy:
“Transgender girls are girls--full stop. There is nothing the legislature can do to amend this unalienable truth. Despite this fact and for the second time in as many weeks, members of the legislature made it clear that they are willing to circumvent rules and norms in order to push an agenda of hateful, targeted harm directed at LGBTQ2S+ Oklahomans with the advancement of SB 2. This fight is not about sports. It’s about erasing and excluding transgender people from participation in all aspects of public life. It’s about creating “solutions” to “problems” that don’t exist and, in the process, harming some of the most vulnerable young people in Oklahoma. If the legislature really wanted to protect fairness in women’s sports, they would tackle the actual threats to women’s sports such as severe underfunding, lack of media coverage, sexist ideologies, and pay equity for coaches. This bill is clearly fueled by a fear and misunderstanding of transgender people. We in no uncertain terms condemn this heinous legislation and urge legislative leadership to end this fear-mongering attack on transgender youth in Oklahoma.”
