Oklahoma requires student athletes to provide affidavits proving biological sex to participate in sports

AP Photo/John Bazemore

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Following Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s passage of the “Save Women’s Sports Act” bill on March 30, 2022, the state’s public schools from kindergarten through college will require every student to show proof of biological sex at birth to compete in athletic activities. 

Under the newly-signed law, student-athletes are required to show proof of their biological sex to participate in single-gender sports and effectively prevent another Lia Thomas from happening – at least in Oklahoma. 

“The law ‘requires certain athletic teams to be designated based on biological sex’ and ‘require[s] execution of an affidavit” to qualify for the team,’ the College Fix reported. The law mandates that student-athletes age 17 and younger must provide an affidavit signed by a parent or legal guardian ahead of the academic year, per the Washington Examiner. 

According to the College Fix, the state distributed the affidavits in July, which gained notoriety after an activist, Erin Manson, who leads the abortion action group Reproaction, posted a photo of the document on social media to claim that the law has “nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes.” 

Describing the law as part of the “white nationalist agenda,” the activist slammed the affidavit as a form of “totalitarianism.” 

“This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda,” she wrote. 

Do you understand what is happening?

This has nothing to do with encouraging girls to be athletes.

This is totalitarianism. It is the white nationalist agenda. The anti-LGBTQ agenda. The anti-abortion agenda. It is all the same agenda.

This is real. Shared with permission. pic.twitter.com/CGZ1SN5jr2

— Erin Matson (@erintothemax) July 28, 2022

NBC News reports that the school district superintendent at Woodall Schools confirmed that state law requires every school district to have students turn in the form to participate in sports. 

Oklahoma is one of 18 states to have enacted bills restricting sports by biological sex. However, it is the only state thus far to require an affidavit to attest to those details.