SPECIAL UPDATE FOR TRANS HEALTH IN OKLAHOMA ∙ 9/19/22

As early as this Thursday (9/29/2022), State Legislators in Oklahoma could take advantage of a Special Session to prohibit the Oklahoma University Health System and its University Hospitals Authority from using funding to cover any procedures for trans youth. This strike comes in the form of Oklahoma House Bill 1007XX, advanced by Republican Representative Randy Randleman. Oklahoma’s only openly non-binary State Representative, Democrat Mauree Turner, explicitly describes the bill in question as “another attack on trans youth and sends a clear message.” 

Given what the bill does, it’s hard to argue with them. House Bill 1007XX, submitted just this Monday (9/26/2022) is, by the admission of Rep. Randleman, an attempt to restrict access to youth trans care in any form through the OU Health system. On paper, it is an appropriations bill that allocates funds distributed to Oklahoma by Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Specifically, HB 1007XX allocates $39.4 million to the OU Health System. However, Oklahoma University operates a program that provides an affirming approach to both gender and sexuality in developing children. Randleman’s explicitly stated aim is to use this bill as a means to subvert the provision of that care by withholding funds from the ARPA–which he can technically do quickly via an appropriations bill.

The actual language of the bill functions to prevent access to puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. However, its intentionally vague language could also functionally ban gender-affirming psychological care and social transition. 

The explicit text of the bill states:
“For the purposes of this section, 'gender reassignment medical treatment' means any health care to facilitate the transitioning of a patient’s assigned gender identity on the patient’s birth certificate, to the gender identity experienced and defined by the patient,” 

Additionally, a subsection under this text differentiates “interventions to align the patient’s appearance or physical body with the patient’s gender identity,” from “medical therapies and medical intervention used to treat gender dysphoria.” 

Notably, Randleman is proud to state that the bill does not preclude “medically necessary,” non-consensual genital surgeries on intersex youth, nor does it preclude psychotherapies and behavioral interventions that could be construed as conversion therapy. This is especially concerning coming from Randleman, who states he is adamantly against conversion therapy,” yet helped kill efforts to ban conversion therapy in Oklahoma. Despite his claims, Randleman, who is a trained and licensed school psychologist, and who took part in a bipartisan legislative study on conversion therapy, has collaborated with State Representatives who are firmly in favor of both trans and gay conversion therapy. 

Touting his accomplishments as a psychologist and psychometrician is eyebrow-raising, particularly because the policies he advances in this bill, which may serve as pretext for broader bans on youth access to trans-affirming care, run opposite to the positions of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of School Psychologists. Randleman’s specific bill has also been condemned both by the ACLU and Freedom Oklahoma.

Ready to take action? Here’s Freedom Oklahoma’s social media toolkit and the contact information for relevant legislators you can call!