Any and all Student-athletes taking part in Oklahoma public school sports are now required to complete a “biological sex affidavit” in order to determine if they will be eligible to play for that team.
The requirement comes forth in the wake of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signing into law the “Save Women’s Sports Act” this past March, which designates sports teams to be entirely based on the biological sex of the athletes. This new requirement will affect all public school sports from kindergarten through college.
“When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls. Boys should compete against boys,” claimed Stitt. “And let’s be very clear — that’s all this bill says.”
The executive director at the abortion and reproductive rights organization Reproaction, Erin Matson, issued this past Thursday an affidavit from Woodall Public School in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, via her social media accounts, which sparked a series of news headlines over this past weekend.
“Do you understand what is happening? This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes,” stated Matson. “This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda.”
“This is real. Shared with permission,” continued Matson.
The superintendent of Woodall Public Schools, Ginger Knight, issued confirmation with an email to NBC News that state law would require districts to make students fill out the form if they wished to take part in any athletics at all.
Do you understand what is happening?
This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes.
This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda.
This is real. Shared with permission. pic.twitter.com/CGZ1SN5jr2
— Erin Matson (@erintothemax) July 28, 2022
Oklahoma has not cemented itself as the first state to officially require an affidavit showing proof of the student-athletes biological sex. Any under 18 years of age can have their parent or guardian officially sign the document. Once a student reached the age of 18 years old, they must sign a new affidavit themselves. Student-athletes must sign a new form before the start of each school year.
Other public schools in Oklahoma have also started to create their own forms in the same manner for students seeking to take part in sports.
“We’re going to have to do this — we’re going to abide by the law,” stated the superintendent of Grove Public Schools, Pat Dodson, to KOAM News Now. “But I do think it’s just a little bit too much, and it’s an overreach on behalf of our legislators.”
Just last year, the Department of Education issued guidance claiming that it would interpret Title IX, which protects students in any federally funded schools from sex-based discrimination, to include any discrimination based upon ‘gender identity’ and sexual orientation rather than strictly biological markers of sex.
One of the co-founders of Four-States Youth For Equality, Nina Short, stated to KOAM News Now that the bill goes against federal law.
“Not only are they not accepted and safe at home, but they go to school, and they’re not safe or accepted there,” stated Short. “And that just further shows that they’re not accepted that they are discriminated against.”
“Title IX was put in place, and it does not allow sexual discrimination of any kind,” she went on.
While speaking with ESPN, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stated that he believes in state and local control.
Despite this, the department has “a responsibility to protect the civil rights of students, and if we feel the civil rights are being violated, we will act.”