Law & Principles

Bill allowing students to sue over forced coed sleeping quarters advances

February 10, 2026

Ray Carter

Oklahoma schools or colleges that force students to share sleeping quarters or other intimate spaces with members of the opposite sex who self-identify as “transgender” could be sued under legislation that has advanced from a state House committee.

“Women and children deserve the right to have their privacy and dignity safeguarded in vulnerable spaces,” said state Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin.

House Bill 3242, by Hasenbeck, declares that “no student shall be required to share sleeping quarters with a member of the opposite sex, unless such persons are members of the same family,” at any overnight event sponsored by a K-12 school.

The bill also mandates that any area where students must change clothes, such as locker rooms, must be “separate, private areas designated for use by persons based on their sex.”

HB 3242 requires state colleges to “designate each multi-occupancy restroom, changing room, and sleeping quarters for the exclusive use of females, or males,” based on biological sex.

“No individual shall enter a restroom or changing room that is designated for females or males unless he or she is a member of the designated sex,” the legislation states.

The bill contains exemptions for custodial service, medical emergencies, and similar events.

HB 3242 also requires state colleges and universities that provide housing to “provide students the option to be housed only with persons of the same sex.”

If a school or college forces students to share intimate spaces with members of the opposite sex, the student would have a cause of action and could sue the university or school under the provisions of HB 3242.

Democratic lawmakers objected, arguing the bill would negatively impact students who identify as transgender—men who claim to be women or women who claim to be men.

“For an individual that identifies as trans, how are they to navigate?” asked state Rep. Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater.

“If a trans man has undergone surgery so they have a penis and they are now housed with a biological woman, is that not also a concern as it would be for a biological male to be housed with a biological woman?” said state Rep. Michelle McCane, D-Tulsa.

Hasenbeck noted that Oklahoma law defines sex based on biological reality, not transgender self-identification, and said women’s privacy should be respected.

“A female’s privacy doesn’t stop where another person makes a self-declared statement about themselves,” Hasenbeck said.

HB 3242 passed the House Postsecondary Education Committee on a 6-2 vote that broke along party lines, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. The bill now proceeds to the House Education Oversight Committee.

Hasenbeck noted the bill aligns with most Oklahomans’ views and a common-sense understanding of reality, noting that transgenderism is “not even a popular idea anymore.”

“It’s an accepted fact that there are differences between the genders and that a woman’s right to be protected in those spaces exists,” Hasenbeck said. “I’m not willing to take a step back and say we’re not going to protect women.”

[Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, is seen on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives at the State Capitol in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Photo credit: Oklahoma House of Representatives]