New laws impact foster care children, gender-affirming care for Oklahoma adults

OKLAHOMA CITY — New laws targeting transgender Oklahomans will have a “devastating impact,” a group advocating for LGBTQ+ rights said. 

Cole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, a group advocating for LGBTQ+ Oklahomans, said the Oklahoma Legislature’s targeting of transgender people has become normalized, and they are concerned that this session’s new laws will limit healthcare options and permit abusive behavior toward trans youth. 

“At the end of the day, trans Oklahomans only want what we all want – the safety to live fully and freely as ourselves, in this place we call home,” they said in a statement. “But instead, we are yet again threatened with our very survival, simply because of a circumstance of gender and location. We deserve better.”

In the final days of session, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed two measures into law that target youth in foster care and bar some adults from receiving gender-affirming care.

Senate Bill 904 prohibits the use of public funds for any gender transition procedures, regardless of the patient’s age and bars any state property, facility or building from being used to provide the procedures. House Bill 3586 prohibits Oklahomans from being denied the opportunity to foster or adopt children based on their willingness to support a child’s gender transition. Raising a child in line with their biological sex rather than a preferred gender is not considered abuse under the new law. 

State law already bans minors from receiving gender-affirming care treatment, which includes puberty blockers, surgical procedures and hormone therapy. 

Targeting gender confirming medical care for transgender Oklahomans of all ages led to adults having their care terminated before the bill was signed into law, McAfee said. The measure also creates a “de facto ban” on medical care for transgender people in Oklahoma prisons. 

HB3586 permits denying children access to gender affirmation and potentially subjects them to conversion therapy and will cause increased rates of suicidality for the youth impacted, they said in a statement. 

“Not only does this bill permit what amounts to abusive behavior towards trans+ kids, it also further endangers 2SLGBTQ+ youth in the Oklahoma foster care system, risking that they could be put into actively non-affirming homes,” McAfee said.

Rep. Erick Harris, R-Edmond, the House author of both bills, said HB3586 reinforces that parents have the “fundamental right” to raise children in line with their values and beliefs. 

“This bill makes it clear that Oklahoma will stand with families who choose truth over ideology and will not allow them to be punished for it,” he said in a statement. 

The new law goes into effect Nov. 1. 

“This measure is about protecting the fundamental rights of parents and ensuring the state does not impose ideological litmus tests on families who want to provide a loving home,” said Senate author Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond. 

SB904 had an emergency clause, meaning it went into effect immediately after being signed by the governor.