Oklahoma can resume enforcing all of House Bill 1775 after a federal appeals court lifted an injunction blocking portions of the law.
The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction against the law, which restricts how certain concepts involving race and sex can be taught in Oklahoma public schools.
HB 1775 prohibits K-12 public school employees from requiring or making part of a course eight concepts, including that one race or sex is inherently superior to another or that an individual’s moral character is determined by race or sex.
A federal district court had blocked enforcement of portions of the law while a lawsuit challenging it continued.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond called the appeals court decision a significant victory for the state.
“This is a significant win for Oklahoma and affirms a simple principle: every Oklahoma student deserves to be treated as an individual, not defined or divided by race or sex,” Drummond said.
The Tenth Circuit determined the challengers had not shown they were likely to succeed in arguing the K-12 provisions were unconstitutionally vague. The court vacated the preliminary injunction and sent the case back to federal district court for further proceedings.
The underlying lawsuit challenging HB 1775 remains pending.
