There is a current narrative in the state that our politics are hateful and are an inhibiting factor to our progress as a state. The claim is generally that people do not want to come here because we are not welcoming to all or have a mean-spirited culture. Frankly, the numbers just do not back this up.

According to the United States Census from April 1, 2020 through July 1, 2022, Oklahoma was number 10 for net migration in total net domestic migration. Considering the top two states for net migration are Texas and Florida and the bottom three are California, New York, and Illinois, a stronger case can be made that Oklahoma and its’ conservative environment is attracting people to the state.

Certainly, some national companies may weigh diversity issues when moving to a state, but companies ultimately do what is best for them financially. There is no evidence that diversity politics factored into decisions to go elsewhere by Panasonic or Volkswagen. The recent agreements with Panasonic and Enel seem to validate this point.  Even if it were true that companies were avoiding us, it does not follow that we should change our conservative values to please these employers when there are many other companies who embrace our values and are more than happy to come.

I believe that those pushing progressive policies are a loud minority and generally overstate the popularity of their policies because they are popular in the creative classes who are more visible in the media. The tip of the spear for 2023 is the national trend among conservative states to pass legislation dealing with gender. According to Pew Research, 60% of Americans favor a binary biological concept of gender. This is up 6% from 2017.  Legislation limiting trans-surgeries and propaganda targeted at children correspondingly has been very popular both in Oklahoma and around the country.

I believe we should have empathy for those struggling with gender dysphoria, but empathy does not require agreement. Most people simply disagree with the arbitrary and circular philosophical claims of the transgender movement. This is not hatred or bigotry. Identity-based gender claims have a lot of problems and in the long run I do not think they can be the universalized default concept for gender. Certainly, insisting that Children wait until adulthood before making life-changing body-altering decisions is just common sense. Despite the noise, I think most people see this and it will not be a limiting factor for the state.