Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed the Women’s Bill of Rights into law banning all males from using women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.
The executive order defines sex in state law as the biological gender a person is born as.
Aside from women’s bathrooms and locker room, the Oklahoma law will also protect female inmates from male intrusion.
Ahead of the signing, Stitt said, “Today, we take another step to preserve the integrity of women’s spaces and opportunities.”
“We are making sure that women’s spaces are safe for women,” he added.
“No men are going to go into women’s prisons in the state of Oklahoma. No men in women’s domestic shelters in the state of Oklahoma. No men in women’s locker rooms, no men in women’s bathrooms, no men in women’s sports,” he added, according to 2 New Oklahoma.
In addition to requiring state agencies to define the words “female” and “male” to correspond with the person’s biological sex, the executive order also includes definitions for the words “man,” “boy,” “woman,” “girl,” “father” and “mother.”
The order also defines explicitly a female as a “person whose biological reproductive system is designed to produce ova” and a male as a “person whose biological reproductive system is designed to fertilize the ova of a female.”
Nicole McAfee, the executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, which supports transgender right, raged at the decision calling it a “thinly veiled attack” that codifies discrimination against transgender women.
“This executive order is neither about rights nor is it about protecting women,” she said.
House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson accused Stitt of using “partisan, polarizing politics” to divide people further.
“Once again, the Republican supermajority continues their government overreach by infringing on the rights of citizens,” said Munson, an Oklahoma City Democrat.
The Oklahoma Governor also previously signed an executive order prohibiting any changes to a person’s gender on birth certificates.
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