Oklahoma Senate passes bill banning gender-affirming care for minors | National News

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Oklahoma Senate passes bill banning gender-affirming care for minors | National News

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Senate handed a bill Wednesday that may prohibit gender-affirming care to minors who’re transgender.

Senate Bill 613, by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, handed 40-8 with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposing it.

Violations can be a felony topic to license revocation and a civil swimsuit introduced by a dad or mum, guardian or subsequent of pal to the kid. Next of pal isn’t outlined within the act.

A baby may file swimsuit till the age of 45, Daniels mentioned.

Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, requested why the Legislature wished to remove a dad or mum’s proper to make medical choices about their little one.

Daniels mentioned the legislation would hit the pause button till transgender youngsters attain a degree of maturity.

“My main concern with this bill is very, very simple,” Floyd mentioned. “This is an attack on parents’ rights. This is taking away from parents their right to make medical decisions for their child. You may not agree with that medical decision, and that is fine.”

She mentioned letting the Legislature decide and select what medical procedures are allowed is a “very slippery” slope.

Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, calls the bill “a pause button” for gender-affirming procedures till the affected person reaches age 18.



Sen. Jo Anna Dossett, D-Tulsa, mentioned lawmakers heard that oldsters are “helpless pushovers” and wish authorities to “hold their hand” till a toddler turns 18.

Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, mentioned youngsters are being instructed lies that they will transition from one gender to a different.

“There is no spectrum of choice,” he mentioned. “You are a boy. You are a girl.”

He mentioned persons are cashing in on transgender care and mentioned it entails horrific surgical procedures with cascading penalties.

Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, assured senators that they have been doing the precise factor by passing the measure.

“You cannot cure confusion with a knife,” Bullard mentioned.

Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, mentioned he disagreed vehemently with those that accuse supporters of the bill of not caring or having compassion.

“We do care, and that is why we are supporting this bill,” Bergstrom mentioned.

The measure now strikes to the House for consideration.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has expressed assist for the idea.

Tamya Cox-Toure, ACLU of Oklahoma govt director, mentioned there isn’t any proof that persons are being pushed into care.

“Gender-affirming care is life-saving care, and the ACLU of Oklahoma and our partners are determined to fight these baseless laws at the Capitol or in the courts,” she mentioned.

“Going against the guidance of every major medical and mental health association, this bill brings the state one step closer toward stripping transgender and nonbinary young people of their right to receive best-practice medical care,” mentioned Troy Stevenson, director of state advocacy campaigns at The Trevor Project.

At the identical time, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs praised the measure’s passage.

“The idea that we would ban a child from smoking cigarettes but allow them to receive life-altering surgeries or cross-sex hormones has never made sense, and members of the Senate deserve credit for advancing this common-sense protection for minors,” mentioned Jonathan Small, OCPA president.

Also Wednesday, the House’s model of the laws — House Bill 2177 by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore — superior from the House Public Health Committee over the strenuous objections of the panel’s lone Democrat, Trish Ranson of Stillwater.

Similar to the Senate measure, HB 2177 would ban gender-reassignment remedies for minors and would forbid medical insurance plans from masking such procedures. It additionally would bar state-supported medical services from such procedures on all sufferers, no matter age.

Lifting language from little one sexual abuse statutes, the bill would enable people who do endure gender reassignment procedures to sue these concerned till the affected person reaches age 45.

Randy Krehbiel contributed to this story.



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