Oklahoma leader Kevin Stitt has become the first US state governor to sign an executive order establishing what many of his supporters are labelling a Women’s Bill of Rights, clearly defining sex-based words like ‘female,’ ‘woman,’ and ‘mother’ and protecting women-only spaces.
The Christian Post reports it’s in response to the strongly Republican state’s concerns about the impact of LGBT ideology on fairness and privacy for women. “Today we’re taking a stand against this out-of-control gender ideology that is eroding the very foundation of our society. We are going to be safeguarding the very essence of what it means to be a woman. Oklahomans are fed up with attempts to confuse the word ‘woman’ and turn it into some kind of ambiguous definition that harms real women. Radical gender ideologues threaten the hard-fought progress won by women and girls to ensure equal opportunities in education, sports and throughout our society.” Governor Stitt declared.
Oklahoma has already enacted a Save Women’s Sports Act, but the Governor wanted more done to counter the regression of women’s rights in the US. His executive order clarifies that the terms “woman” and “girl” only apply to biological females, while “man” and “boy” only apply to biological males. It specifically defines 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 fertilise the ova of a female.”
The order requires schools and government departments that collect vital data on people, to identify their birth gender wherever possible. It also specifies that agencies must “provide governmental services in single-sex environments where biology, privacy, and personal dignity are implicated.” It directs prisons to “provide dedicated facilities for men and women” and schools to provide “dedicated restrooms and locker room facilities for boys and girls.”
Governor Stitt signed off on a bill earlier this year that made it a crime for healthcare workers to provide gender affirming care for children under 18. He has previously approved measures to prohibit biological males from participating in girls’ sports teams and using school bathrooms designated for females. Another of his executive orders outlaws making any changes to a person’s gender on birth certificates.
He vowed that “as long as I’m governor, we will continue to protect women and ensure women-only spaces are reserved solely for biological women after he signed his latest executive order flanked by women from the Independent Women’s Voice the sister organisation of the Independent Women’s Forum which crafted the Women’s Bill of Rights that served as the model for Governor Stitt’s order as well as similar legislation in Kansas and Tennessee.
Somerlyn Cothran, senior vice president of investor relations at both women’s organisations, praised the executive order as a signal to girls and women that “they no longer have to fear for their safety in private female-only spaces.”
Independent Women’s Voice advisor Riley Gaines, a former college swimming champion and Christian campaigner for fairness in women’s sport, observed: “It is sad that such basic truths must be spelled out to ensure equal protection, but I applaud Governor Stitt for taking decisive action today. Establishing common language by way of a Women’s Bill of Rights is a way of saying enough is enough. Oklahoman women deserve equal opportunity, privacy, and safety, and this order will help deliver it.”
