Hundreds of transgender supporters gathered at the Oklahoma Capitol this week to protest a list of proposed legislation that would ban certain gender-affirming health care for trans minors and young adults in the state.
Although local reports describe the protest as peaceful, some right-wing media personalities have been comparing it to the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Protesters gathered Monday on the fourth floor of the Capitol in Oklahoma City, outside the House chamber, about an hour before Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt was to deliver his state of the state address. according to NBC affiliate KFOR.
The group chanted “Trans lives matter” and “We are Oklahoma,” KFOR reported.
Some protesters carried banners, according to a video shared on social media. One read, “We’re not a threat, so stop targeting us,” and said at the bottom that HRT “saves lives.”
KFOR reported that law enforcement allowed the protesters into the Capitol and each person had to go through a metal detector.
However, right-wing media commentators have claimed on social media, and on cable news, that the protest was not peaceful. One said the protesters had “mugged and busy” the Capitol, while another said that “a mob of trans activists took over the Oklahoma capitol.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson, on his Tuesday night show, called it an “insurrection.”
“A group of so-called trans activists stormed the state Capitol. … Their goal is to keep child mutilation legal,” he said, according to to a video of the segment shared by several people on social networks.
Local media, including KFOR, reported that those characterizations were not accurate.
Daniel Seitz, communications director for the Oklahoma House Republican Caucus, also said in a statement on Twitter that none of the protesters had broken the law.
“The Oklahoma House of Representatives will support and defend the First Amendment rights of all who come to make their voices heard,” the statement read in part. “Regarding Monday’s protest, there were no reported incidents or illegal behavior and any national narrative to the contrary is false.”
Protesters rallied to oppose a group of bills targeting gender-affirming healthcare. Some of the bills would ban transition-related care for minors altogether, including one that would ban transition-related care for people as young as 26. Other bills would bar gender-affirming care providers from receiving public funds.
State lawmakers have introduced at least 30 bills targeting LGBTQ people so far this year, according to an NBC News analysis. At least half of these aim to restrict gender-affirming healthcare.
During his State of the State address Monday, Stitt said he would sign a bill to ban transition-related surgery for minors, even though doctors who provide such care say the surgeries are rarely performed on minors.
“We should not allow a minor to undergo permanent gender reassignment surgery in Oklahoma,” Stitt said in his speech. KFOR reported.
Ramona Díaz, one of the organizers of the protest, said KWTV, a local CBS affiliatethat you are concerned about the bill to ban gender-affirming care for people up to age 26, because you are 23 and on hormone therapy.
“I can buy a firearm,” he told 9News. “I can smoke marijuana. I can drink alcohol. I can go to war, but I can’t choose what to do with my own body.”
