Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill on Tuesday that bans the use of nonbinary as a gender option on state birth certificates.
The new law, SB 1100, requires all birth certificates to allow only male or female as gender options.
The text of the law states that it “requires the biological sex designation on a birth certificate to be either male or female and prohibits a nonbinary or any symbol representing a nonbinary designation.”
SB 1100 also prohibits people from changing the gender on their birth certificates.
“People are free to believe whatever they want about their identity, but science has determined people are either biologically male or female at birth,” Oklahoma Republican state Rep. Sheila Dills, the House sponsor of the bill, said in a statement after the bill passed the House last week.
“We want clarity and truth on official state documents. Information should be based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue,” she added.
The move follows an executive order Stitt signed in November 2021 that directed the Oklahoma Health Department to stop issuing or changing birth certificates with nonbinary as a gender option.
The state’s Department of Health had previously reached an agreement in May 2021 allowing a person to change a birth certificate gender to nonbinary.
The bill stands in contrast with a growing number of states that have specifically allowed a person to designate a gender other than male or female on a birth certificate. The National Center for Transgender Equality has observed that 15 states currently allow the option, with Vermont becoming the 16th state when its new law goes into effect in July.
As The Daily Wire reported in March, starting this month, U.S. citizens can select “X” as their gender on their passport instead of choosing male or female.
Jessica Stern, U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, stated that humans “do not always fit within a male or female category around the world,” during her announcement about the rollout of the “X” addition.
“The addition of a third gender marker propels the U.S. forward toward ensuring that our administrative systems account for the diversity of gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics among U.S. citizens,” she added.
The Daily Wire also recently reported that TSA is also updating its policy for gender markers on its “TSA PreCheck” system.
The TSA stated, “Beginning in April 2022, a TSA PreCheck® applicant can select the gender they would like saved in their TSA PreCheck® record simply by selecting ‘M’ or ‘F’ during the enrollment / renewal process. The gender selected does not need to match the gender on supporting documentation, such as birth certificate, passport, or state-issued ID.”