But for now, with a good university scholarship and high out-of-state rent, Lucas is staying put. “The overall community is shrinking, and over time I think it will become even smaller,” he said.
Trans people across the state told BuzzFeed News that the passage of dozens of bills aimed at sex education, forcing trans youth out of schools and criminalizing doctors who provide gender-affirming care has already harmed the community. Many are reconsidering their long-term plans to stay in Oklahoma. Even though lawmakers abandoned one attempt to raise the age for access to gender-affirming care, they say it proves that the rights of transgender people of any age in the state are under threat.
In Oklahoma City, Niall Glover, a 30-year-old trans woman, has already made the difficult decision to run away this month with her nonbinary partner Violet. Glover said when she learned about SB 129, it seemed like a warning sign. She began fundraising to pay for the move after the bill was introduced last month and traveled to Colorado to look for an apartment with her partner.
“They're clearly coming after us specifically. We don't want to stay here and wait for something to take hold and live in whatever hell that is,” Glover said. She had always planned to leave Oklahoma one day, but never imagined she would have to do so under these circumstances. “It sucks to be cut off from your family and everyone you care about,” she said. “We're basically starting all over again. It's very scary.”
Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, a Two-Spirit LGBT advocacy organization, said bills like SB 129 intentionally seem extreme; lawmakers would then be able to reach a “compromise” that doesn’t go as far as their original text. Their group is tracking at least 45 other government bills targeting the LGBT community, a dozen of which seek to restrict access to trans health care. Both SB 250 and SB 252 limit state funding for the care of minors; it is likely that they will take place this year. Another bill, HB 1011, would ban gender-affirming care for Oklahomans under age 21.
Bills advancing in the Oklahoma Legislature conflict with recommendations from major medical associations that consider gender-affirming care “medically necessaryThe American Medical Association has repeatedly said it is “inappropriate and harmful” for politicians to interfere with this kind of care.
“It is especially important to make sure people know that there is not any age when it is appropriate to prohibit advanced medical care for transgender people,” McAfee said.
Oklahoma has already cut off access to care for some trans youth. In October 2022 Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB 3which blocked funding for gender-affirming care for minors at OU Health, the state's only children's hospital.
On Monday, Stitt presented State Address and has made clear that limiting this assistance to minors is a top priority. “I urge the Legislature to send me a bill that would ban all gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapy for minors in the state of Oklahoma,” he said to applause from lawmakers.
But outside the state Capitol building, dozens of protesters—everyday trans Oklahomans, organizers and policy advocates—gathered to rally against Stitt's proposed future.
