LGBTQ

Members of the transgender and 2SLGBTQ+ community celebrated International Transgender Day of Visibility in Tulsa and Oklahoma City with a march and rallies.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives moved to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity Tuesday with the passage of a bill that uses nearly identical language to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” Bill.

Recent pushes from the state legislature to target queer issues in schools and medicine have mobilized 2SLGBTQ+ Oklahomans, and the Transgender Action Choir is lifting their voices to speak up.

The Center for Queer Prairie studies examines some of the cultural contributions of 2SLGBTQ+ people like Lynn Riggs, who wrote the basis for the musical Oklahoma!, which is now a cultural institution.

Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill banning drag performances the same afternoon he signed a ban on youth gender-affirming care. Advocates say some are asking whether staying in the state is worth it.

Bills to ban gender-affirming care for youth under the age of 18 are quickly making their way through the Oklahoma legislature.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics discusses an investigation over misspent COVID-19 education funds and a budget hearing for State Superintendent Ryan Walters before lawmakers.

Nicole McAfee is the executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, which advocates and organizes for the state’s 2SLGBTQ+ community. They were in Washington, D.C. when the president signed the Respect for Marriage Act earlier this week.

The bill signing comes after months of work on Capitol Hill and years of changed attitudes — even as the threat looms that the conservative Supreme Court could roll back same-sex marriage rights.

The case involves a Colorado web designer who says state law prevents her from designing wedding websites because she believes that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.