Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 1 - EXECUTIVE ORDERS › Section 1:2023-20

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
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.