One down, 25 to go

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Members of the Oklahoma House Common Education committee were no doubt surprised when they showed up for a special meeting and the room was full of spectators. The large turnout was to hear, and perhaps speak, about HB 3044.

LGBT activists, school counselors, and administrators have strongly opposed the bill, introduced by state Rep. Sally Kern. The measure would have prohibited giving information to students about human sexuality.

The text of the bill is, “No counselor, therapist, social worker, administrator, teacher or other individual who provides counseling, guidance or instructional services for a public school, public school district or technology center school district may refer a student under the age of eighteen (18) years to, nor provide the contact information, business card, brochure or other informational materials of, an individual, organization or entity not employed by or under the direct control of the school district in which that student is enrolled if the referral or information provided pertain to human sexuality without notifying the parents or legal guardians of the student either by email, personal phone call or text message at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to making the referral or providing the information.”

Freedom Oklahoma, Oklahomans for Equality, and other activists and organizations were there to oppose the bill. However, when Rep. Kern rose to speak about the bill, she announced she was withdrawing it from consideration and further action.

Her reason was because, “just today it has come to my attention that there could be some unintended consequences that would negatively affect the wonderful work of nearly 50 pregnancy resource centers across the state who volunteer their time and resources in helping women and babies in a crisis time in their lives.” She is referring to anti-abortion resource centers in Oklahoma.

“Because I am 100 percent pro-life I cannot advance a bill that would in any way adversely impact these wonderful organizations in their efforts to protect the unborn. While I still am completely committed to the principle that parents have the right to be informed, if I’m going to err on a bill, I’m always going to err on the side of life.”

Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Troy Stevenson was happy with Kern’s decision.  He said, “I believe that once the legislators who are on this committee understood the ramifications of this bill they understood how important it was to educators and counselors across the state, their constituents, that their ability to protect their students not be infringed. There was no way this bill was moving forward and they pulled it from consideration.”

Spectators felt strongly about the bill, and were visibly relieved that it had been pulled. Leslie Bohon-Bothwell, a retired school counselor, said, “those of us in the counseling field know that there is a higher rate of depression, suicide, severe anxiety, and associated conditions among LGBTQ kids who are in an anti-gay household and don’t have other outlets for support or advocacy.”

Children “don’t feel comfortable going to their family, they don’t feel comfortable talking to their friends for fear of being ostracized,” she said. “So they come to the school counselor, and of course the most basic tenet of counseling is that of confidentiality.”

She pointed out that the bill effectively nullified confidentiality. Bohon-Bothwell concluded, “If confidentiality isn’t applicable in this case then students will question whether the counselor will maintain confidentiality in any other issue, and counseling will no longer be a resource for students.

Allison Blaylock, a transgender woman, said, “I’m here to support Freedom Oklahoma and show that the LGBT community does not support some of the bills” that have been introduced. “Especially today’s bill where we can’t have counselors give information to our youth who aren’t familiar with, or know how to get help with questions about their sexuality or maybe their reproductive issues because the bill was going to remove that ability from them.”

“You look at the aspect of more people becoming familiar with non-binary gender, non-gender identity, and transgender. When you don’t have a teacher or someone that you feel you can have a connection with, who do you talk to?”

Stevenson said, in parting, “One down, 25 to go.” He was referring to the 26 anti-LGBT bills being considered by the Oklahoma legislature. A complete list of those bills is available at www.gayly.com/nationally-unprecedented-slate-25-discriminatory-bills-filed-oklahoma.

Watch The Gayly, Gayly.com, and our Facebook page for continued coverage on action related to these bills in the Oklahoma legislature.

The Gayly – February 4, 2016 @ 5:30 p.m.