Breaking Down The State's Response To A Lawsuit Over Bill Banning Gender Affirming Care For Minors

The state is responding to a lawsuit from five transgender Oklahomans and their families, who sued the state over Senate Bill 613. The law passed this legislative session, banning gender affirming care for minors.

The state’s response includes testimony from people who have now detransitioned. The three people in the response cite childhood trauma and claim proper therapy or counseling would have turned them away from transitioning.

“I will not allow transgender surgeries to happen to minors in Oklahoma,” said Governor Stitt in a press conference in May.

The bill banning gender affirming care for minors was the first bill signed into law this session,

but not without pushback from many legislators.

“Doing a disservice to the people of Oklahoma and the families and individuals who need this care,” said Sen. Julia Kirt (D-OKC) during a committee meeting in February.

“These laws are discrimination against transgender youth in Oklahoma," said Sen. Kay Floyd (D-OKC).

A group of five Oklahoma families with transgender children are suing the state, calling the law unconstitutional. The five children are under pseudonyms in the suit, to protect their privacy.

 The ACLU of Oklahoma, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the law firm Jenner & Block LLP are also on the lawsuit.

The state’s response to the lawsuit is over 400 pages, with testimony from three Oklahoma women who say they regret transitioning as teens.

Zoe Hawes began taking testosterone as a teen. She’s quoted in the response saying, “I was on testosterone for nearly four years in total. At age 16, I was absolutely convinced that I was a male in a female body, and that transitioning from female to male was the only thing that would bring me peace.”

Hawes said she wanted a gender transition surgery but couldn’t afford it. 

The response says, “I was hospitalized six times in Oklahoma, while on testosterone.”

“In 2018, I tried to commit suicide and was again hospitalized in Oklahoma.” said Hawes. “Finally, I began to do the inner work I needed to do to start to heal. 14. At age 20, I stopped taking testosterone and my body began to regain its female characteristics. I am no longer on any mental health medications or receiving therapy. I believe the gender dysphoria was brought on by trauma and culture – by people and medical professionals encouraging me to believe that becoming a man was an option and transitioning would bring me peace.”

She’s quoted in the state’s response saying: “I believe the gender dysphoria was brought on by trauma and culture.”

Laura Smalts legally changed her name to Jake, and began taking testosterone at a young age.

Smalts is quoted saying, “At the age of 25 I decided that I was supposed to have been a man and had just been born in the wrong body,” going on to say, “I was completely convinced that I was a man trapped in a woman’s body.”

Smalts had a double mastectomy, full hysterectomy, surgeries that she said resulted in serious medical problems including heart problems.

Smalts cites listening to a Christian radio channel, saying “I experienced a vision of Jesus reaching into my pit with an outstretched arm, asking me to leave everything and follow him.”

Smalts began detransitioning, saying “the physical transition was never real, it never resolved the gender dysphoria, and what they truly needed was psychological counseling, not hormones and surgery.”

“I fully support laws that save children from making the same horrible mistakes that I did. I believe SB613 does just that,” said Smalts in the response.

Aether Fixon began begging her mother for puberty blockers around 12 years old.

The response states: “My mother ultimately consented to the testosterone prescription because the therapist told her that I would commit suicide if my mother did not agree.”

Fixon told the state: “Had SB 613 been in place when I was teenager in Oklahoma, then my mother would not have been coerced into approving the medical treatments against her better judgment.”

The ACLU isn’t commenting at this point, but they plan to file their response on Monday.