An Oklahoma state lawmaker has blasted the Republican governor for vowing to fight a decision by his administration’s health departmen...
An Oklahoma state lawmaker has blasted the Republican governor for vowing to fight a decision by his administration’s health department to allow for a nonbinary option on the official birth certificate.
Mauree Turner, a Democrat who represents Oklahoma City in the state legislature, is the first-ever lawmaker in the Sooner State to identify as nonbinary.
People who are nonbinary do not identify with traditional male or female gender assignments. Instead, the preferred pronoun is ‘they’ or ‘them.’
'If you have to work with people who adamantly oppose your existence, right, to the point to where we can't work together, you can't talk to me, you can't talk to me like I'm a human being, you don't see me, that damages anyone's working relationship,' Turner told KOKH-TV.
Governor Kevin Stitt and other Republican leaders expressed outrage on Thursday after learning the State Department of Health issued a birth certificate this year with a nonbinary gender designation.
Mauree Turner (left), a Democrat who represents Oklahoma City in the state legislature, is the first-ever lawmaker in the Sooner State to identify as nonbinary. They blasted Governor Kevin Stitt (right) for vowing to fight a decision by his administration’s health department to allow for a nonbinary option on the official birth certificate
'If you have to work with people who adamantly oppose your existence, right, to the point to where we can't work together, you can't talk to me, you can't talk to me like I'm a human being, you don't see me, that damages anyone's working relationship,' Turner said
Oklahoma is one of 15 states in the United States to offer a third gender option on the state's official birth certificate. The image above is a stock photo of an old birth certificate from Oklahoma
The agency issued the birth certificate in May to Oregon resident Kit Lorelied, who was born in Oklahoma, identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
Lorelied sued after the Oklahoma State Department of Health initially refused the request.
The department, represented by the Office of the Attorney General, reached a settlement in May in which it agreed to add nonbinary as an option on birth certificates.
Stitt condemned the settlement on Thursday.
'I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period,' Stitt said in a statement.
'There is no such thing as non-binary sex and I wholeheartedly condemn the purported OSDH court settlement that was entered into by rogue activists who acted without receiving proper approval or oversight.'
A spokeswoman for Stitt did not immediately respond to a message seeking to clarify who the governor alleged was a rogue activist.
Oklahoma is one of 15 states in the Union - in addition to the District of Columbia - that offers its citizens a third gender category on official birth certificates.
The other states that do so are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington State, and Washington, DC.
Earlier this year, two transgender people sued over a new Montana law that makes it difficult for transgender people to change the sex on their birth certificates.
Turner hit back at Stitt, accusing the governor of stoking fear among the LGBTQ community in the state.
'If we are continuously saying like, "You're not real, you have to suppress that part of you," what is that going to do to our community?' Turner said.
'What's that going to do to our kids.'
The state legislature's top Democrat also blasted Stitt.
'This morning, the governor used his pulpit to attack Oklahomans. Period,' House Minority Leader Emily Virgin said in a statement.
'A national study estimated that 52 percent of transgender and non-binary young people in the United States seriously contemplated suicide last year.
'The governor's suggestion that non-binary people don't qualify as Oklahomans is abhorrent and completely unbecoming of a governor.
'Moreover, it is dangerous.'
The agreement to add the nonbinary option to the birth certificate was reached by Lorelied's attorney, the Department of Health and the Office of the Attorney General.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia currently recognize nonbinary gender status and permit such designation on identifying documents, according to Lorelied’s lawsuit.
Oklahoma's health commissioner, Dr. Lance Frye, said in a statement that the settlement was reached under the administration of former Attorney General Mike Hunter and that the agency was working with Stitt and new Attorney General John O’Connor on how to proceed.
'Should a challenge to the previous agreement be made, we will proceed accordingly,' Frye said.
Lorelied's attorney, Christopher Brecht, said his client was very happy with the settlement and that he was surprised at the outrage from GOP leaders.
'I certainly don't understand the vehement objection to something like this,' he said.
'I don't understand how this impacts binary individuals, so the swift opposition is surprising to me.'
Brecht said his client simply wanted a birth certificate that reflected who they are.
'From my perspective, having the very first thing that identifies you to the world, to have that not identify you accurately, I can't think of anything more degrading,' he said.
Statements from House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat said the settlement amounted to unauthorized overreach by executive agencies.
State Senator Micheal Bergstrom, a Republican from Adair, has filed a bill for the upcoming session that would require male and female to be the only options on birth certificates.
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