Culture & the Family

Legislature passes bill shielding Oklahoma parents who decline ‘transgender’ affirmation

April 30, 2026

Ray Carter

Under legislation now awaiting Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature, Oklahoma adoptive parents could not be required to embrace the transgender agenda in order to care for a child, and parents statewide could not be prosecuted for child abuse, neglect, or endangerment if they refuse to call a child by opposite-sex pronouns or otherwise “affirm” a child’s belief that they were born in the wrong body.

State Sen. Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond, said the bill would ensure more families can serve as adoptive parents since many orthodox Christians reject the idea that men can become women and vice versa.

“We know that the faith community is particularly involved in this area, serving these children, and so we want to make sure that we’re not isolating them,” Thompson said.

She said the bill would also provide “children a safe and loving home regardless of what they’re struggling with.”

House Bill 3586, by state Rep. Erick Harris and Thompson, creates the “Right to Raise Act.”

The bill states, “No person shall be denied the opportunity to become an adoptive parent and the placement of a child for adoption shall not be denied nor delayed on the basis of the adoptive parent’s refusal, unwillingness, or lack of support to enable the child to engage in a gender transition.”

The legislation also states that “raising a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex or referring to a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex shall not constitute abuse under this act,” and also states that it cannot be considered “neglect” or “endangerment” to treat a male child as a male or a female child as a female.

Some Democratic lawmakers objected, arguing that those who hold traditional Christian views are unfit to serve as adoptive parents and are committing child abuse if they refuse to “affirm” a child’s belief that he or she is transgender.

“When a child says, ‘I’m not okay,’ our job is not to debate them,” said state Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City. “Our job is to listen.”

Hicks argued that those who say sex is unchanging merely hold a belief, but she portrayed a child’s view that they were born in the wrong body as a scientific fact, saying the legislation “carves out specific protections for adult beliefs, even when those beliefs may cause harm to a child’s emotional or mental health.”

Hicks also claimed the legislation “limits options” for children.

“We can respect families. We can respect faith,” Hicks said. “But we cannot elevate those above the well-being of a child.”

State Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, made similar comments, saying that if a child entered the adoption system because they were “kicked out of their house” after identifying as transgender, then “it is abusive to turn around and put them into a house that is not affirming.”

But Thompson noted that good parenting requires helping children overcome doubts and insecurities, not fueling them.

“I can’t imagine anything more hurtful than my child coming to me and saying, ‘Mom, everything about me is wrong. What is wrong with me?’ And my response to them would be like, ‘You know what? You’re right. Everything is wrong,” Thompson said. “That’s not what we do as parents.”

State Sen. Randy Grellner, a Cushing Republican and doctor, noted the tide has turned strongly against those who claim children can be born in the wrong body or that major physical surgeries are a valid treatment for that mental condition.

“The American College of Plastic Surgeons has bailed out on gender-transition surgeries, because people are remorseful,” Grellner noted. “Europe has basically slowed down to a trickle, and there’s a reason for it.”

He noted a 22-year-old woman recently won a $2 million verdict after she sued the professionals who encouraged or performed “gender affirming” surgery on her during her teen years when she identified as a boy. A jury concluded the woman’s psychologist and surgeon were guilty of medical malpractice by pressuring the girl to get a double mastectomy.

“I think ‘do no harm’ is what we need to do here,” Grellner said, “which is not get a scalpel out at 14 or 15, and let these kids grow into maturity.”

“At the end of the day, when we are shepherding our kids, meeting them where they are doesn’t mean validating things that are not true,” Thompson said. “I tell my kids all the time, ‘Your feelings are true, but they may not be based in reality.’”

HB 3586 passed the Oklahoma Senate on a bipartisan 39-7 vote. The bill previously passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a bipartisan 75-15 vote. The legislation now proceeds to the governor.