Senate Advances Bill Codifying Transgender Discrimination

The so-called “Women’s Bill of Rights” neither protects women nor gives them more rights, but rather takes away equal protection under the law for trans people.

April 23, 2024‍

The Oklahoma State Senate on April 23 advanced a measure that sounds noble—the “Women’s Bill of Rights.” It’s easy to see, however, that HB 1449 neither protects women nor gives them more rights. What the legislation does is take away equal protection under the law for transgender people and could give the government and employers the ability to discriminate based on sex.

Authored by Representative Toni Hasenbeck and sponsored by Senator Jessica Garvin, HB 1449 passed the House in 2023 but failed to be heard on the Senate floor, falling dormant for a year until it was resurrected and set on the Senate agenda the day before the vote. Garvin admitted during debate that she had reservations about the bill last year after hearing that LGBTQ+ students could be bullied as a result of the legislation, echoing the tragic story of Nex Benedict, a transgender student in Owasso who committed suicide earlier this year after getting into a fight with female students in a high school girls’ restroom (the restroom of Benedict’s biological sex). The story made national news and has become a political firebrand, as state superintendent Ryan Walters has used it as ammunition for his hell-bent crusade against “woke indoctrination” (read liberal) in Oklahoma public schools.

If it becomes law, HB 1449 would legally define men and women by their biological reproductive functions. Besides barring trans people from updating their sex on driver’s licenses and other government documents, the bill states that “the state or its political subdivisions shall not be prohibited from establishing distinctions between sexes,” thus, legalizing discrimination based on sex. While promoted as protecting women, HB 1449 codifies inequality. The measure plainly allows men and women to be treated differently.

The bill is necessary to protect public spaces that are designed for women, Garvin said during debate. Senator Shane Jett said he supported the bill to protect his wife and daughters from men playing “dress up” and going into women’s restrooms. Senator Ally Seifried said that trans women should not be allowed to play women’s collegiate sports because of the unfair advantages they would gain. Senator Julie Daniels said she did not support the Equal Rights Amendment when it was being considered as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the 1970s, and that it was “sad” that the discussion of a legal definition of men and women should now have to take place.

HB 1449 would discriminate against trans people when it comes to the use of public restrooms, prison placement, participation of organized sports, and anywhere else that enforces gender binary. The bill could also have dangerous unintended consequences which could harm women, such as:

· Violating federal non-discrimination requirements and jeopardizing federal funding for domestic violence shelters and sexual assault victims’ services;

· Prohibiting discrimination “in relations to similarly situated members of the opposite sex” (a woman couldn’t sue for sex discrimination for losing a job opportunity to a man); and,

· Allowing state and local governments to enact policies that permit discrimination based on sex.

Senators Michael Brooks and Mary Boren questioned Garvin on how the law would be enforced if a biological woman found herself in the position of having to share a public restroom with a trans woman. “Would women, biological or otherwise, have to carry their driver’s license or birth certificate to go to public restrooms?” Brooks asked.

About seven percent of the population is intersex, or having reproductive organs of both sexes, and the bill language does not seem to account for them, Senator Carri Hicks said. HB 1449 harms LGBTQ+ constituents in her district by making them feel unsafe, and the bill makes trans people feel as though they do not exist, said Senator Julia Kirt. “We should be putting people first, but this legislation puts politics first.”

HB 1449 passed the Senate along party lines, 35 – 7.

Because the bill passed with amendments, it must now go back to the House for final approval before heading to the governor’s desk. Governor Kevin Stitt issued a similar executive order in August 2023 defining sex-based words like “female,” “woman,” and “mother” within state agencies. The conservative political advocacy organization Independent Women’s Voice joined Stitt at the signing ceremony.

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