The need to define and codify simple terms like “woman” should only have to be done in a bizarroworld that’s abandoned basic logic and common sense for total idiocy. And yet, that’s exactly where we’ve found ourselves in 2023 America.
The fact that leftists can’t – or, more likely, reuse to – acknowledge foundational and scientific differences between men and women spurred Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma to issue an executive order Tuesday cementing the definition of “woman” and “female” in the eyes of the state.
Dubbed the “Women’s Bill of Rights,” the EO was drafted by advocacy groups including the Independent Woman’s Voice, the Independent Women’s Law Center, and Women’s Liberation Front, who argued that the state must protect women and girls, their spaces, and their opportunities from being co-opted by mentally ill men pretending to be females.
The statement reads in part that “For purposes of state/federal law, a person’s ‘sex’ is defined as his or her biological sex,” clarifying that “a ‘female’ is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova; a ‘male’ is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female” and that “’woman’ and ‘girl’ refer to human females, and the terms ‘man’ and ‘boy’ refer to human males.”
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“There are legitimate reasons to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other areas where biology, safety, and/or privacy are implicated,” the executive order reads. “Policies and laws that distinguish between the sexes are subject to intermediate constitutional scrutiny, which forbids unfair discrimination against similarly-situated males and females but allows the law to distinguish between the sexes where such distinctions are substantially related to important governmental objectives.”
At a press conference announcing the EO, Stitt vowed that biological males as defined in his order won't be permitted in Oklahoma women's prisons or girls-only spaces in schools and other facilities.
BREAKING: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs the “Women’s Bill of Rights” into law which defines “women” as a “natural person who is female” in state law:
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 1, 2023
“No men will be in women’s prisons, domestic shelters, locker rooms, or bathrooms.”
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The EO flies in the face of federal policies issued under the Biden administration, which actively protect trans-identifying biological men from being banned from spaces designated for girls and women.
On the other hand, women's rights supporters praised the EO as a necessary step to protecting women.
"Radical gender ideologues are trying to redefine womanhood as a subjective state unrelated to biology. This isn’t just about semantics. This limits our opportunities and threatens our privacy and our safety," Independent Woman’s Voice said in a statement online.
Rile Gaines, an All-American swimming champ who was forced to compete against a biological male and share a locker room and shower facilities with him before becoming an outspoken advocate for protecting women's sports, called it "sad" that such basic terms like "woman" have to be defined at all.
“It is sad that such basic truths must be spelled out to ensure equal protection, but I applaud Governor Stitt for taking decisive action today,” Gaines said in a press release accompanying the EO. “Establishing common language by way of the Women’s Bill of Rights is a way of saying enough is enough: Oklahoman women deserve equal opportunity, privacy, and safety, and this order will help deliver it.”