EXECUTIVE ORDER 2023-20
The 19 th Amendment guaranteed women across the country the right to vote one hundred and three years ago this month. Fifty-one years ago this summer, a Democratic Congress passed and a Republican President signed, the groundbreaking law popularly known as Title IX to promote opportunities for women in education programs and activities funded by the federal government. Fifty years ago this month, President Nixon proclaimed August 26 th to be Women's Equality Day, celebrating women's suffrage and the vital contributions women make to our economy and our nation. Each of these events, championed by leaders from both political parties, made great strides for the dignity and equality of women in America.
Today, radical gender ideologues threaten the hard-fought progress won by women and girls in our society, and the federal government is surrendering to their demands. In Oklahoma, we have led the pushback in restoring reality to discourse surrounding gender, not least through last year's enactment of the Save Women's Sports Act. But more remains to be done to counter the regression of women's rights in this country. There are definitional, practical, and material differences between the sexes that have implications for our law in Oklahoma. To settle the unfounded confusion surrounding such basic questions as "What is a woman?", this Order is intended to provide clarity, certainty, and uniformity to administrative actions and rules.
Therefore, I, J. Kevin Stitt, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to the power and authority vested in me by Sections 1 and 2 of Article VI of the Oklahoma Constitution, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, hereby order as follows:
1. In the promulgation of administrative rules, enforcement of administrative decisions, and the adjudication of disputes by administrative agencies, boards, and commissions, all state agencies, boards, and commissions when using the following words shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, define them as follows: a. "female" when used in reference to a natural person shall be defined as such a person whose biological reproductive system is designed to produce ova.b. "male" when used in reference to a natural person shall be defined as such a person whose biological reproductive system is designed to fertilize the ova of a female.c. "woman" and "girl" shall refer to natural persons who are female.d. "man" and "boy" shall refer to natural persons who are male.e. "mother" shall be defined as a female parent of a child or children as defined in 25 O.S. § 7.f. "father" shall be defined as a male parent of a child or children as defined in 25 O.S. § 7.g. "sex" when used in reference to a natural person shall be defined as that natural person's biological sex, either male or female at birth.h. "natural person" shall be defined as only those "persons" defined in 25 O.S. § 16 who are human beings, to the exclusion of bodies politic or corporate.2. Any public school, public school district, and any other agency, department, or subdivision of the State, that collects vital statistics for the purpose of complying with anti-discrimination laws or for the purpose of gathering accurate public health, crime, economic, or other data shall, to the fullest extent allowed by law, identify each natural person who is part of the collected data set as either male or female as defined in this Order. Compliance with this Order shall not prevent provision of other data points as well.3. When otherwise allowed by law, agencies are authorized, where practical, to provide governmental services in single-sex environments where biology, privacy, and personal dignity are implicated. As illustrative, non-exhaustive examples, prisons and other correctional facilities are directed to provide dedicated facilities for men and women respectively. Likewise, schools are directed to provide dedicated restrooms and locker room facilities for boys and girls, respectively. This Executive Order shall be distributed to all members of the Governor's Executive Cabinet and the administrative heads and chief executives of all state agencies, who shall cause the provisions of this Order to be implemented as herein directed.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma to be affixed at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, this first day of August 2023.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
J. Kevin Stitt
ATTEST:
Brian Bingman
Secretary of State
Okla. Admin. Code § 1:2023-20
Adopted by Oklahoma Register, Volume 40, Issue 23, August 15, 2023, eff. 8/1/2023