OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of the Oklahoma House Democratic Caucus released statements today after Senate Bill 627 passed the House General Government Committee.

SB627 was originally legislation that created a commission to determine the boundaries of the Red River. Today, an amendment changed the bill completely to prohibit any public body from conducting mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling.

This isn’t the first time the House has heard this legislation. Similar language was in House Bill 1888, which was laid over after the bill drew criticism from the public.

State Rep. Cyndi Munson, D-OKC:

“I had hoped that my Republican colleagues, when they voted on Senate Bill 627, would remember why House Bill 1888 failed to move past the House’s committee deadline,” Munson said. “Unfortunately, after the calls from school administrators telling us that this bill would cost our colleges money and an outcry from the public saying ‘this is not who we are,’ we find ourselves once again entertaining legislation that will hurt Oklahomans – economically, spiritually and physically.”

State Rep. Mauree Turner, D-OKC:

“There are real issues that Oklahomans are facing and this bill doesn’t address any of them,” Turner said. “House Bill 1888 didn’t make it through our initial deadline for a reason – and Senate Bill 627, as it is now, is not what the senators voted on when this bill was heard.

“We have quite honestly jumped through loopholes for bigotry to persist, while saying we didn’t have the power to enforce a mask mandate at the Capitol.

“We are legislating our children into the closet. Diversity and inclusion trainings only help people and hold people accountable – they have never hurt anyone.

“There are people, leaders, in the Capitol who could stop this hateful nonsense immediately, and they should. Until they choose to do so, they are enabling this bigotry, and putting Oklahoma children at risk.”