As the nation mourns 21 lives lost to senseless gun violence, the Republican governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, made sure to sign the latest anti-trans bill into law. On Wednesday, Stitt signed a bill requiring public and charter school students to use bathrooms that align with their sex as listed on their birth certificates. In short, this is an effort to ban trans youth from accessing the correct bathroom and instead force them to either “out” themselves by using the one assigned at birth or to delay their bodily functions until school is over. Because young people don’t have enough to worry about.
The law applies to all students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The measure dictates that if trans youth refuse to use the bathroom aligning with their sex assigned at birth (and who are unable to hold it all day) must use a “single-occupancy” bathroom instead. It goes into effect immediately, per CNN.
Oh. And if schools say, No way, use the bathroom that feels safest to you? They can be sued by parents and have state funding cut by up to 5%. Because conservatives want to stomp down on not only LGBTQ+ people but structural allies as much as possible. Sadly, this latest move is just another in Stitt’s considerable history of enacting hate in his state.
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