Oklahoma Democrat lawmaker proclaims diversity, equity and inclusion ‘is God’

"That’s very disturbing to say the least, when we have, again, a state superintendent who does not want anything to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion," said Democrat Rep. Regina Goodwin during a March 2 Appropriations and Budget meeting in regards to HB 2077.

"DEI as in deity, diversity, equity, and inclusion is God," she added.

Speaking to bill creator Chad Caldwell, Goodwin also stated that voices who oppose DEI should be silenced.

"Voices that should be silenced, quite frankly, I would hope any thinking human being would know anybody that thinks diversity, equity, and inclusion is a bad idea, perhaps those voices that don’t want to include all of humanity in this world and in our curriculum and in are education, perhaps those are the voices that should be silenced," Goodwin said in response to Caldwell’s question, "Can you give me an idea of which voices you’d like to silence."

HB 2077 would create an "online transparency portal," which would "support parental rights to access, review, and comment upon curriculum, instructional materials, textbooks, and library materials being used by the school district where their child attends school, and which their child might be exposed to without prior parental knowledge or consent."

These curriculum pieces include textbooks, library books, lesson plans, viewing materials, videos, handouts, assessment items, and content from third-party learning applications.

According to KGOU, this bill was struck down by the committee in a 24-8 vote.