Oklahoma’s GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt is calling on lawmakers in the state to soon bring a bill to his desk that would “ban all sex-reassignment surgeries” on minors.
The plea from Stitt, who is currently serving his second term as governor, came during his 2023 State of the State address in Oklahoma City on Monday.
“We must protect our most vulnerable — our children,” Stitt said, explaining that “minors can’t vote, can’t buy alcohol, can’t buy cigarettes.”
“We should not allow permanent sex-reassignment surgery on a minor in Oklahoma,” he said to a standing ovation. “That’s why I’m asking the Legislature to send me a bill that would ban all gender reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments on minors in the state.”
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Gov. Kevin Stitt delivers his State of the State address Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogroki)
As governor, Stitt vowed to “never be afraid to call right wrong” and said that They “will not be intimidated by biased interest groups or make decisions based on groupthink.”
Stitt’s comments follow a pledge he made last fall to prevent Oklahoma minors from undergoing “life-changing” gender-changing surgeries in his state.
“We have a duty to protect minors from a lot of things: We don’t let them drink, we don’t let them get tattoos,” Stat told Fox News last October. “Their brains are not fully developed.”
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“This is not something we will allow to be done to minors and use taxpayer dollars,” he added at the time.
Governor Kevin Stitt is applauded by members of the Legislature during his State of the State address on February 6, 2023 in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogroki)
Stitt, who has consistently described the state’s belief in “traditional family values,” told Fox last year that “healthy children are either being permanently altered by hormone therapy” or Any other type of surgery “is not going to happen in Oklahoma.”
State, the first governor-elect in 2018, addressed state lawmakers on Monday, saying he would “continue to lead, not follow.”
Last April, Stitt made headlines after signing a measure to ban non-binary gender markers on birth certificates.
The state capitol building in Oklahoma City was built in 1917. (Getty Images/File)
In addition, Stitt, a month earlier in 2022, signed a bill that would have banned transgender girls from playing on women’s sports teams, the first of many to be signed into law across the country. is one of the restrictions.
Other conservative states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas, have passed laws banning gender-affirming treatment for minors.
Jon Michael Rash and Bradford Betz of Fox News contributed to this article.
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