By Journalist Stephanie Landaverde (OSU).
Rep. Edmunson presented an opponency debate.
Big strides were made today for vampires and werewolves in Oklahoma.
The House heard Bill OU-507 on Thursday morning. The bill is known as the “Twilight” Act of 2023 and intends to grant vampires and werewolves the same rights as those afforded to humans.
After three hostile amendments, debate was called on the final bill.
Rep. Sherrer (OU) co-authored the bill and debated in the proponency. She said the bill is an expansion of civil rights and promotes inclusivity. Sherrer also said the bill lays a foundation for other supernatural creatures, like Bigfoot, to attain rights.
“They [some people] consider Bigfoot to be a supernatural creature and coming from Southeast Oklahoma, it’s a creature that some of us take pride in,” Rep. Sherrer said. “Big imagery [of Bigfoot] can bring in tourism dollars for the state of Oklahoma, which can promote revenue that can help other programs for the state.”
On the opponency, Rep. Keliher (SE) brought forward his concerns about the danger of the bill.
“It continues to go down the slide that I think we have been going down over the past 30 years,” Rep. Kelier said. “But if you are progressing towards a cliff, it doesn’t make you a bad person to want to hit the brakes a little bit.”
Rep. Rhoads (OU) was another co-author of the bill and debated in the proponency. She said vampires and werewolves presenting as humans should be granted the same rights as humans.
“I just don’t think it’s fair for people who were turned into werewolves or vampires, without wanting to be, to be stripped of human rights,” Rep. Rhoads said. “I think they should have the same rights as human beings.”
Rep. Edmunson (OSU) in the opponency said there is too much unknown about vampires and werewolves. He said these creatures vary heavily in their depiction, such as in “Twilight” or “Dracula.”
“If you bring up (..) the mythos where vampires just live forever in the same body, it kind of gets into a lot of things about ‘what is the age of consent for vampires?”’ Rep. Edmunson said. “Do we go off the body or mind? Things along those lines, which we just don’t have an answer for.”
This bill passed the House with a vote of 27 in the affirmative and 24 in the negative.