Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, signed an executive order on Monday halting the state from issuing birth certificates with a “nonbinary” gender option.
In the order, Executive Order 2021-24, Stitt directed the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) to cease issuing birth certificates listing a “nonbinary” gender option – a term for gender identities that are not male or female. The Order details that the OSDH entered a “settlement agreement” that was not approved by Stitt’s administration that allows the department to amend birth certificates for individuals who identify as nonbinary.
“This statute nor Oklahoma law otherwise provide OSDH or others legal ability to in any way alter a person’s sex or gender on a birth certificate. Moreover, neither this statute, nor OSDH’s administrative rules, give the agency authority to enter agreements that circumvent laws of the state,” the Order reads. “This Order ensures that this unauthorized action will be corrected.”
The Order also encourages state lawmakers to “[i]mmediately pass legislation that will clarify, to the extent necessary, that changes in sex or or gender on a birth certificate or a designation of non-binary is contrary to Oklahoma law.”
“This Executive Order shall be forwarded to the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate, the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the Commissioner of Health, the Secretary of Health, and members of the State Board of Health, who shall cause the provisions of this Order to be implemented,” the Order concludes.
Reported by local outlet KFOR, a former Oklahoma resident named Kit Vivien Lorelied, who identifies as nonbinary, filed a lawsuit against the OSDH last year after it denied her request to amend her birth certificate to change her name and sex. Reportedly, the Department agreed to change her name, but not her sex. As part of the settlement, the OSDH issued her a nonbinary birth certificate, The Oklahoman reported.
In response to the settlement, Stitt said in a statement in October “I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period.”
“There is no such thing as non-binary sex and I wholeheartedly condemn the purported OSDH court settlement that was entered into by rogue activists who acted without receiving proper approval or insight,” he continued.
According to the Associated Press, the Department issued a statement claiming that it would work with the Governor and the Office of the Attorney General on orders for amendments to birth certificates that fall outside the current laws.
