Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB 615, requiring K-12 students to use restrooms matching birth-certificate sex

On May 25, 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed SB 615 into law, creating a new Section 1-125 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes requiring every public school and public charter school serving prekindergarten through twelfth grade to designate each multiple-occupancy restroom, locker room, changing room, or shower room for the exclusive use of one sex, defined as the sex on a student's original birth certificate. A student unwilling to comply is limited to a single-occupancy restroom or changing room as the only "reasonable accommodation." School boards must adopt disciplinary policy for noncompliant students; a noncompliant district or charter school faces a 5% state-funding cut the following fiscal year, and parents gain a private cause of action against the district. The bill carried an emergency clause and took effect immediately on signing. SB 615 passed the Senate 38-7 and the House 69-14 on May 19, 2022, before Stitt's approval.

The law singled out transgender students for exclusion from ordinary school facilities based on a protected characteristic, enforced through a funding-penalty mechanism against noncompliant districts statewide.

Updates

2022-09-07 — Transgender students sued to block the law [3, 4]

Three transgender public-school students and their families, represented by the ACLU, sued the Oklahoma State Department of Education, state superintendent Joy Hofmeister, State Board of Education members, the attorney general, and several school districts in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, alleging SB 615 violated the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX.

2024-03-22 — Federal judge dismissed the suit with prejudice [3, 5]

U.S. District Judge Jodi W. Dishman entered final judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' case with prejudice against all defendants, having ruled in January 2024 that discrimination based on gender identity does not constitute sex discrimination under Title IX. The plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the Tenth Circuit on April 19, 2024.

2025-11-21 — Tenth Circuit heard oral argument on the appeal [6, 7]

A three-judge Tenth Circuit panel heard oral argument on the plaintiffs' appeal; reporting characterized the judges as skeptical of the students' position, citing intervening U.S. Supreme Court rulings. No decision had been issued as of this recording.