Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Banning Male Inmates From Female Spaces

by Zachary Mettler | May 16, 2025 | Government Updates

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has signed a bill protecting women and girls’ privacy and safety in the Sooner State.

Gov. Stitt signed SB 418 into law on Tuesday, May 13. The bill prohibits males from entering women’s private spaces – including changing rooms, sleeping quarters and restrooms – in correctional facilities.

Regulating the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the new bill specifies,

Every restroom, changing room, or sleeping quarters within [an institution or facility operated by the Department of Corrections] that is designed for use by females or males shall only be used by members of the designated sex.
No individual shall enter a restroom, changing room, or sleeping quarters that is designated for members of the opposite sex.

Furthermore, the bill allows any individual who is required to share sleeping quarters with a person of the opposite sex or encounters a person of the opposite sex in their restroom or changing room to sue for relief.

The Oklahoma Senate passed the bill on March 10 in a 39-8 vote. The state House approved the bill on May 7 in a 77-15 vote.

Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Sara Beth Nolan issued a statement applauding the governor’s signing of the bill.

“States have a duty to protect the privacy and safety of women and girls,” Nolan said. “Letting men intrude into women’s intimate spaces is a denial of the real biological differences between the two sexes and has devastating effects on women.”

Nolan added,

SB 418 ensures that women’s intimate spaces in correctional facilities are protected for women. ADF commends Sen. Julie Daniels, Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, and the Oklahoma Legislature for their leadership on this bill, and Gov. Stitt for signing it into law.
In no world should women be forced to sacrifice their privacy and safety to activists pushing gender ideology.

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of instances of prisons forcing women to share sleeping quarters with male inmates. As you might guess, such arrangements usually don’t end well, especially because almost 34% of men transferred to women’s prisons are convicted sex offenders.

California law allows prisoners to choose their accommodations based on their self-designated gender identity.

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an important executive order, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.

The order ensured “that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.”

However – as with many of the president’s executive actions – a federal judge got involved after the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had transferred two men into men’s prisons, ordering the BOP to “immediately transfer” them back to women’s prisons. The judge also stipulated the BOP must provide them with hormone therapy for “treatment” for gender dysphoria.

The same judge, Royce Lamberth, previously blocked the BOP from transferring a dozen other male inmates back into men’s prisons.

As lawsuits over the president’s wholly commonsense executive order continue to play out, it’s very good that states like Oklahoma are taking decisive action to protect female inmates from male predators. Please pray other states will quickly follow suit.

To speak with a family help specialist or request resources, please call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).

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