Student athletes at Oklahoma public schools will be required to complete "biological sex affidavits," acknowledging their gender identity at birth, before participating in sports for the 2022-23 academic year.
The requirement runs in accordance with a new state law prohibiting transgender women and biological girls from playing on the same sports teams.
In March, Oklahoma GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the "Save Women's Sports Act," thus requiring sports teams through the college level to be grouped by an athlete's "biological sex" at birth.
"When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls; boys should compete against boys," Stitt said four months ago. "And let's be very clear: That's all this bill says."
According to Oklahoma law, for student athletes 17 or younger, a parent or legal guardian must sign the affidavit acknowledging their child's assigned sex at birth, before the beginning of each school year.
And, for those 18 or older, the student-athletes are required to personally sign the affidavit, while also providing "any change in the status of the biological sex of the student" within 30 days of a school year launch.
For 2022 alone, Oklahoma is 1 of 10 states with laws on the books barring transgender athletes from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. In all, 19 states have passed similar measures since 2020.
Also, Kentucky and Idaho have passed transgender athlete bans that might require a student's healthcare provider to complete a similar affidavit, verifying the athlete's assigned sex at birth.
And according to KOAM-TV, some school districts in Kansas have begun distributing "biological sex affidavits" to student athletes.
The Oklahoma bill has had its detractors. Back in March, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced the law for promoting "baseless fears" about transgender athletes, while also saying it sends a "clear message" that transgender athletes in Oklahoma would neither be accepted nor welcome.
"This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes," abortion rights group Reproaction's Executive Director Erin Matson claimed on Twitter. "This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda."
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