The Problem with Oklahomas Anti-LGBTQ Bills

6 anti-LGBTQ bills have progressed out of the committee since the start of the 2024 legislative session in Oklahoma. These bills range from denying people gender-affirming care, to banning the display of pride flags. These bills target LGBTQ identifying people and promote harassment and violence. These types of bills need to stop being passed and current bills need to be disbanded.

These bills promote violent harassment through suggesting that LGBTQ people are less than human. In a public forum in Tahlequah, Tom Woods, a senator in Oklahoma said quote “We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state – we are a moral state.” Public officials being able to say harmful phrases like this only highlights the injustice in the state. There have been multiple cases of violent harassment in Oklahoma recently. The most famous is the case of Nex Benedict, a non-binary teen who was beaten for using the girls bathroom, which they were forced to use based on the Oklahoma SB 615 bill. Nex later collapsed and died due to “unknown reasons”. Another violent case happened in Tulsa, where a molotov cocktail was thrown through a window of a donut shop. It was thrown because that window previously displayed an art installation with drag queens featured.

There is no benefit to any party by passing these bills. Bills passed against a certain group of people will alienate those in that group. When people are discriminated against, government approval goes down, along with citizens’ trust in their government. In this specific case, the Oklahoman government is going against the majority of the state's population when passing these bills. In a poll for PRRI, 75% of Oklahoma residents stated that they would like to expand LGBTQ rights and protection against discrimination. The passing of these bills will only succeed in harming the mental health of LGBTQ identifying kids and alienating the majority of Oklahoman residents. Most LBGTQ identifying people living in Oklahoma will move out of the state as soon possible, due to these bills harming them. Other residents of Oklahoma who are LGBTQ supporting also dislike the passing of these bills, which only furthers negative feelings towards the government.

To help solve this problem, the Oklahoman government must stop passing new bills, and also work towards rectifying current ones. The majority of the Oklahoman population is supportive towards LGBTQ identifying people, and will not oppose changes to these types of bills. Once current bills are changed and new ones are no longer being passed, the Oklahoman government will be much more likable. What current Oklahoma residents should do is make sure the government is aware of public dislike towards these current bills and start protesting against the passing of more.