By Journalist Kennedy Thomason (OSU)
Rep. Walker, the author, caucuses with other members of the House.
The act aimed to allow transgender athletes to compete on high school athletic teams that align with their gender identity. It allows athletes who are excluded from athletics due to their gender identity to take legal action against their schools.
Rep. Walker, the author, said her intentions behind this bill are to create more awareness.
“I wanted to instead use my platform with being able to write legislation, debate it, argue it and present it,” Rep. Walker said. “I just wanted to use this as an opportunity to start conversations, which I believe I was successful in.”
An emergency clause is included in this bill, making it effective immediately upon passage.
Seven amendments were added to the bill. These included changes to verbage and penalties. Under penalties, teachers will be “flagged for disciplinary review” and follow the step-by-step procedure to determine an outcome.
Representatives were divided on arguments. Some remained against the bill as a whole, while others were against the emergency clause. They believe that the emergency clause would negatively impact sports teams currently with rosters currently set.
The questioning and caucusing led into a contentious debate.
Rep. Thomason (TU), in debate, said that transgender athletes deserve to be recognized by Oklahoma government.
“This body has no business stigmatizing and subordinating transgender student athletes,” Rep. Thomason (TU) said. “You won’t legislate them away. They’ll continue to exist and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by all of us.”
The proponency maintained that transgender athletes should be able to participate in school-sanctioned sports.
In the opposition, Rep. Tate said the repercussions of passage would be large.
“I think you’re upsetting a lot more people than you’re actually helping, I guess trying to help a minority, but I think this one is a little tough to handle,” Rep. Tate said.
The bill was unsuccessful and failed with a vote of 27-13, initially.
However, due to improper procedure, the Speaker of the House called for a revote on the bill and emergency clause. Initially, the short title was not read and individuals were counted in the vote, despite the fact they were not included in the quorum.
The bill failed to reach the required ¾ for the emergency clause. It passed with a vote of 27-14, and failed with a vote of 27-14.
The Speaker of the House entertained Rep. Thomason’s (TU) request for a round of applause for the passionate bill Rep. Walker presented.
