In Oklahoma, it seems like every trans person knows someone who is leaving.
For Lukas, a 23-year-old college senior, it isnt so much a question of whether he will go, but when. Lukas, who has asked to use their first name to protect his privacy, is a nonbinary art student in the city of Norman. Hes just begun the process of trying to get a doctor to prescribe him testosterone to alleviate his dysphoria and he dreams of one day getting top surgery.
But recently, Republicans in the state legislature introduced a bill that would force Lukas to delay getting care for years. When SB 129 was prefiled in January, it proposed a ban on gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 26 the first time legislation in the US has targeted access to care for trans adults.
The bill was then known as the Millstone Act, drawing its name from a Bible passage that states that it would be better to tie a stone around ones neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea than to harm a child. The bill also sought to criminalize doctors and healthcare professionals for providing this care.
On Wednesday, the bills Republican sponsor, state Sen. David Bullard, amended the bills language, removing any reference to age restrictions or biblical boulders. The new text of the bill would ban the use of public funds going toward gender-affirming care which means that trans people of all ages could face challenges seeking care at a state- or county-owned facility.
Though their access to healthcare doesnt have an age limit on it for now the rise in anti-trans bills has made Lukas feel defeated and also fearful of the growing hostility against trans and gender-nonconforming people in Oklahoma. Over the last two years, they have watched as their trans friends graduate and move away to left-leaning states with better protections for trans people and Lukas knows one day they will join in this migration.