Freedom Oklahoma Statement on House Passage of HB 2546
March 21, 2023
Nicole McAfee, they/she
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oklahoma House Passes HB 2546 Don’t Say Gay/Trans Bill
Freedom Oklahoma Call On Legislature To End Efforts to Create Hostile Environments of Censorship and Surveillance in Oklahoma Schools
Oklahoma City, OK – In response to today’s advancement of HB 2546, a bill drafted in the same spirit as Florida’s Don’t Say Gay/Trans law that has now been copied and pasted in states across the country, Freedom Oklahoma and Rep Mauree Turner issued the following statement:
“As was noted again and again on the floor today, HB 2546 chills speech in Oklahoma schools with ambiguous language and open-ended enforcement mechanisms. When the current state department of education administration is using its power to revoke the teaching license of a former Oklahoma high school teacher for sharing a QR code to a library resource page, educators have good reason to worry about this and similar policies rooted in surveillance culture and censorship,” said Nicole McAfee, Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma. “HB 2546 hijacks public education for partisan political purposes, threatening the ability of schools to be places where all students are treated with respect, have access to safety, and receive equal access to a quality education. Anti-2SLGBTQ+ curriculum laws perpetuate a stereotype of 2SLGBTQ+ people as a dangerous, immoral class of people from whom other students must be shielded. We have seen this same rhetoric recycled again and again, whether Anita Bryant or Representative O’Donnell’s name is tied to the quote.”
“I know well from personal experience the culture of harm, fear, and shame that comes with censorship. I experience it each day as my colleagues continue to censure me, and threaten me for standing up for the rights and safety of trans constituents in the Capitol. HB 2546 stigmatizes and discriminates against 2SLGBTQ+ students by treating them differently than other students in the classroom. Other students are not subjected to the suggestion that something about their identity is inappropriate for classroom discussion, but under this law, 2SLGBTQ+ youth will be,” said House District 88 Representative Mauree Turner. “I named on the floor that teachers are LEAVING, doctors are LEAVING, families are LEAVING. Because they are afraid to live in a state with legislators like this. I want 2SLGBTQ+ youth, families, educators, doctors, adults, to all feel safe in Oklahoma. But, until that safety is real, I understand why people must leave. And I’ll keep fighting, in and beyond the Legislature, for schools and medical settings and Capitol buildings and an Oklahoma where all 2SLGBTQ+ folks have the safety to thrive.”
HB 2546 advanced from the Oklahoma House today by a vote of 79-19. It will next move to the Oklahoma Senate to be assigned to a committee.
Pronouns:
Nicole McAfee, they/she
Mauree Turner, they/them/theirs
Freedom Oklahoma is the state's only dedicated 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy organization and works each day to build a future where all 2SLGBTQ+ people have the safety to thrive. You can learn more about Freedom Oklahoma at https://www.freedomoklahoma.org/.
Representative Mauree Turner (They/Them/Theirs) is the current Representative for Oklahoma’s 88th House District & a Queer, Non-binary, Okie Muslim. Mauree was formerly the Regional Field Director Oklahoma's Campaign for Smart Justice, an ACLU initiative focusing on addressing the harms of the criminal punishment system at its many intersections. Their life’s works are geared towards fighting for and maintaining the civil rights and liberties of all. They serve on the boards of organizations such as GLSEN and Freedom Oklahoma, and have previously worked with such organizations as NAACP of Oklahoma and CAIR Oklahoma.
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