Oklahoma Senate Bill 1100

Senate Bill 1100
58th Oklahoma Legislature
Long title An Act relating to vital records; amending 63 O.S. 2021, Sections 1-311, 1-313, 1-316, and 1-321, which relate to certificates of birth; limiting biological sex designation on certificate of birth to male or female; prohibiting nonbinary designation; making language gender neutral; updating statutory language; and declaring an emergency.
Territorial extent	Oklahoma
Passed by	Oklahoma Senate
Passed	24 March 2022
Passed by	Oklahoma House of Representatives
Passed	21 April 2022
Legislative history
First chamber: Oklahoma Senate
Introduced by	Micheal Bergstrom
Committee responsible	Health and Human Services
Passed	24 March 2022
Voting summary	38 voted for 7 voted against
Committee report	28 February 2022
Second chamber: Oklahoma House of Representatives
Member(s) in charge	Sheila Dills
Committee responsible	Public Health
Passed	21 April 2022
Voting summary	75 voted for 16 voted against
Committee report	6 April 2022
Summary
Bans non-binary markers on birth certificates
Status: In force

Oklahoma Senate Bill 1100 (SB 1100) is a 2022 law in the state of Oklahoma which bans sex markers other than male or female on birth certificates. According to Lambda Legal, Oklahoma is the first US state to pass such a law.[1]

Background

SB 1100 was first filed in October 2021 in response to the then-ongoing court case Loreleid v. Oklahoma State Department of Health where a person born in Oklahoma had been refused a birth certificate with a non-binary gender marker by the Department of Health. The Department of Health settled the case, forcing Oklahoma to issue birth certificates with non-binary gender markers.[1][2]

On 8 November 2021, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed Executive Order 2021-24, reversing the settlement and calling on members of the Oklahoma State Legislature to pass a bill to clarify the law.[3]

Provisions

The provisions of the act include:[4]

• Amending Oklahoma Statutes 63-1-311 (Birth certificates), 63-1-313 (Delayed birth certificate), 63-1-316 (New certificate of birth), and 63-1-321 (Amendment of certificate or record) to not allow any symbol representing a non-binary marker to be used as the biological sex designation on a birth certificate.
• Declaring a state of emergency, allowing the act to take effect and come into force immediately upon approval.

Passage through the legislature

Bill sponsors

SB 1100 was authored by Senator Micheal Bergstrom and Representative Sheila Dills.[5] The bill was sponsored by twenty legislators, eight members of the Oklahoma Senate and twelve of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, all Republican. The eight Senators were:[6]

Micheal Bergstrom Julie Daniels Roland Pederson Shane Jett

Jake Merrick Blake Stephens Dewayne Pemberton David Bullard

The twelve Representatives were:[6]

Sheila Dills Dustin Roberts Sean Roberts Kevin McDugle

Josh West Kevin West Denise Hader Jim Olsen

David Hardin Gerrid Kendrix Brad Boles Steve Bashore

Stages

Bergstrom filed the bill on October 20, 2021, before the second session of the 58th Oklahoma Legislature convened in February 2022.[7] It was found to have no fiscal considerations to the state.[8]

SB 1100 had its first reading in the Oklahoma Senate on 7 February 2022 and its second reading the next day, when it was referred to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.[9] On 28 February, the Committee voted 7–3 to recommend that the Senate pass SB 1100; Julie Daniels, Jessica Garvin, Adam Pugh, Frank Simpson, Rob Standridge, John Haste and Paul Rosino voted for the recommendation, and Jo Anna Dossett, Carri Hicks and George E. Young voted against it.[10] On 24 March, the Senate passed SB 1100 with 38 'ayes' and 7 'nays'.[9][10]

On April 6, the bill was passed by the House Public Health Committee by a 7–1 vote;[5] Sherrie Conley, Toni Hasenbeck, Dell Kerbs, Carl Newton, Cynthia Roe, Marilyn Stark and Wendi Stearman voted for it, and only Ajay Pittman voted against.[11] The House passed the bill on April 21 by 75–16.[12] The Oklahoma Democratic Party accused Republican state legislators of "hateful rhetoric" and personal attacks on Mauree Turner during House debates on the bill.[13] Turner, the representative for Oklahoma's 88th House district, is the first non-binary person elected to a state legislature.[14]

SB 1100 was sent to Governor Kevin Stitt on 25 April and signed the next day.[9]

Response

Support

Bergstrom said that the bill was "common sense" and that "it's not a complicated issue – biologically, you're either a male or female".[15] Dills argued that the bill provided "clarity and truth on official state documents" and that markers should be "based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue".[16]

Opposition

On the day the bill was debated, Mauree Turner, a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the first publicly non-binary U.S. state lawmaker,[17] tweeted that the bill was "a very extreme and grotesque use of power".[1][16]

Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, said that the LGBTQ+ community in Oklahoma would "continue to fight for a state where we have full equality under the law".[18] Cathryn Oakley, senior counsel with the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement that banning non-binary birth certificates "is just another attempt to erase the identity of transgender and non-binary people" and that it went against the wishes of "the vast majority of Oklahomans".[19] The ACLU also opposed the bill.[20]

In an editorial, The Norman Transcript condemned the legislature for "[choosing] to take action it knows will harm LGBTQ+ Oklahomans" and "specifically targeting [LGBTQ+ people] and their very safe existence in our state".[21]

Legal challenges

Both before and after the bill was signed, there was discussion about its constitutionality being challenged, especially after the federal case of Zzyym v. Pompeo,[22][23] where the US Department of State was ordered to provide non-binary passports.[24][25]

See also

• Discrimination against non-binary people
• Legal recognition of non-binary gender
• LGBT rights in Oklahoma
• Transgender rights in the United States

References

1. Murphy, Sean (April 27, 2022). "Oklahoma governor signs ban on nonbinary birth certificates". ABC News. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
2. Catherine Sweeney; Ryan LaCroix (October 22, 2021). "Oklahoma issues first nonbinary birth certificate". KOSU. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
3. "Executive Order 2021-24" (PDF). Oklahoma Secretary of State. November 8, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
4. "Enrolled Senate Bill No. 1100" (PDF). Legiscan. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
5. Hunter McEachern (April 6, 2022). "House committee advances bill preventing nonbinary designation on Oklahoma birth certificates". KFOR. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
6. "OK SB1100 / 2022 / Regular Session". Legiscan. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
7. Hicham Raache (October 20, 2021). "Oklahoma State Senator files bill restricting birth certificate gender requirements to male, female". KFOR. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
8. "BILL SUMMARY - SB1100" (PDF). Oklahoma Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
9. "Bill Information for SB 1100". Oklahoma State Legislature. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
10. "THE OKLAHOMA STATE SENATE - 2nd Regular Session of the 58th Legislature". Oklahoma State Legislature. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
11. "Oklahoma House of Representatives - Second Regular Session - 58th Oklahoma Legislature". Oklahoma State Legislature. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
12. "Controversial birth certificate bill heads to Gov. Stitt's desk after House approval". KOKH. April 21, 2022. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
13. Allmond, Angela (April 22, 2022). "Republicans' Personal Attack on Representative Turner is Unacceptable". Oklahoma Democratic Party (Press release). Retrieved May 5, 2022.
14. "Mauree Turner Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 88". LGBTQ Victory Fund. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
15. Carmen Forman (April 27, 2022). "Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs ban on nonbinary birth certificates". The Oklahoman. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
16. Kimberly Kindy (April 30, 2022). "Okla. stakes out new battleground on LGBTQ rights: Birth certificates". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
17. Carmen Forman (April 16, 2021). "Rep. Mauree Turner is 'comfortable with being uncomfortable' in Oklahoma's Legislature". The Oklahoman. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
18. Alex Woodward (October 24, 2021). "'I'm a human being': Nonbinary lawmaker criticises Oklahoma GOP and those who 'adamantly oppose your existence'". The Independent. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
19. Paul LeBlanc; Andy Rose (April 27, 2022). "Oklahoma governor signs law banning nonbinary birth certificates". CNN. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
20. "SB 1100". ACLU Oklahoma. Archived from the original on March 2, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
21. "EDITORIAL: Signing nonbinary birth certificate bill into law is a mistake". The Norman Transcript. April 24, 2022. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
22. Steve Fair (May 3, 2022). "COLUMN: OK Supreme Court will be busy with new laws". Tahlequah Daily Press. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
23. Payton May (April 11, 2022). "Bill preventing non-binary designation on Oklahoma birth certificates moves forward". KOKH. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
24. "Zzyym v. Pompeo" (PDF). Lambda Legal. February 21, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
25. Christine Hauser (October 27, 2021). "U.S. Issues First Passport With 'X' Gender Marker". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2022.