House passes 'Women's Bill of Rights': Ranson, Democrats argue it ostracizes trans women

Mar. 24—A bill called the Women's Bill of Rights passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on Thursday and now goes to the Senate.

Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, authored House Bill 1449, which she said brings uniformity to the classification of a person as being a woman or man.

"House Bill 1449 reaffirms that sex is a biological term and provides clarity in the application of Oklahoma law that deals with sexes differently," Hasenbeck said. "The whole bill says that women do not wish to have their rights taken away so that the rights of others may be expanded, and this has to do with all of the places where men and women are equal yet different."

In the bill, a female is to be defined as a "natural person" whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova, and a male is a natural person who can fertilize the ova.

Hasenbeck said the bill allows distinctions to be established between sexes for objectives such as assigning people to prisons, locker rooms and restrooms.

"This bill will make sure that women in all of these situations don't have to give up their rights. I don't have to choose to reassign what I call myself just for a very minute, left group of people," Hasenbeck said. "We're codifying this so that judges, lawmakers, agency directors and teachers, all clearly know what to do."

But Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater, and other House Democrats debated with Hasenbeck over whether or not the measure is exclusionary toward transgender women and girls during the chamber's legislative session.

They particularly took issue with the use of "natural person" in the bill's language. Ranson proposed an amendment that was tabled, which would have eliminated the term and replaced it with "human."

Hasenbeck said the term was used to distinguish people and business organizations.

"In statute previously ... a person means 'a natural person that is not a firm, a partnership, an association, a corporation, a trust, an LLC, etc.'," Hasenbeck said. "I discussed it with Rep. Ranson that even though the term human sounds better, it is already embedded in our statutes."

Ranson said this particular bill's language should be altered because it deals with a person's reproductive abilities, so it should not be confused with a corporation. She told the News Press that the wording implies people who don't fit the definitions are considered "unnatural."

"I know a trans man that has the reproductive abilities of a woman, so do I want that man to go into a woman's bathroom?," Ranson said. "I'm a woman. Do I have to prove it?"

In the debate period before the bill was voted on, Ranson said the Women's Bill of Rights does not address the individual rights of women but rather the definitions of what a woman is.

She alluded to the "false choice" women were given when the 19th Amendment was passed, which secured all women the right to vote but, in practice, excluded many women of color.

"This is another moment in time where we are given a false choice," Ranson said. "Trans individuals are not a threat to my gender identity ... to my rights as an Oklahoma citizen ... yet we're going to pass this that says you can only claim you're a woman if you've got the right reproductive parts."

Rep. Mauree Turner, D-Oklahoma City, said legislation such as the Women's Bill of Rights and the Save Women's Sports Act, which was signed into law in March 2022 and prevents transgender girls from competing in female sports, is leading to an Oklahoma that is "separate but equal."

"What we are fighting against is homegrown bigotry in the place of policy," Turner said. "I know it makes a lot of folks uncomfortable that trans people exist, but I would ask you to truly think about the last time a trans person existing really impeded on how you showed up in the world."

Hasenbeck said House Bill 1449 does not exclude transgender women and girls, but it does strictly define a woman as a female that has the possibility of producing eggs when entities have to indicate the sex of a person. She said the entities would be given the option to indicate the gender the person identifies with.

"We're making sure that when we're collecting data, doing research or having women in prisons or in any other place where women need to be safe and equal as men but different from men that they are protected," Hasenbeck said. "I don't think a woman should be sharing a cell or a dorm room or a bathroom with a biological male."

Ranson said trans women are not a threat to her safety, and all women will have to prove themselves as women under the bill.

"We as citizens have a right to privacy, and this violates that privacy," Ranson said. "What bothers me the most is this comes from Republican men ... and they got a female author to make it more palatable, and I'm not going to put up with it."