Oklahoma’s anti-LGBTQ+ schools boss Ryan Walters denies watching porn during meeting

Oklahoma state education boss Ryan Walters has denied watching pornography during a meeting last week.

The superintendent of public instruction, known for his anti-LGBTQ+ and “anti-woke” rhetoric, said the allegations that he was watching explicit content during a Board of Education meeting were “categorically false”.

Two board members accused Walters of watching adult content during an executive session, claiming they had seen a video showing naked women on a television in his office.

Becky Carson told The Oklahoman: “I was like, ‘Those are naked women’, then I was like, ‘No, wait a minute, surely those aren’t naked women, maybe they just have on tan body suits’.

“I saw them walking across the screen, and I’m like: ‘Those are her nipples… that’s pubic hair’.”

Writing on X/Twitter on Sunday (27 July), Walters denied looking at pornography, saying there was “absolutely no truth” to the allegations.

“Any suggestion that a device of mine was used to stream inappropriate content on the television set is categorically false,” he said. “I have no knowledge of what was on the TV screen during the alleged incident, and there is absolutely no truth to any implication of wrongdoing.

“These falsehoods are the desperate tactics of a broken establishment afraid of real change. They aren’t just attacking me, they’re attacking the values of the Oklahomans who elected me to challenge the status quo.”

However, the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) is reportedly leading an investigation into the allegations, according to Snopes.

State senator Lonnie Paxton described the situation as unsettling.

“Senator [Adam] Pugh and I appreciate the quick action by OMES to help get details on exactly what happened. More transparency is essential before strong conclusions can be drawn.”

Ryan Walters created ‘woke’ purity test

Walters and the State Department of Education have announced plans to create an ideology assessment test for prospective teachers who move to Oklahoma “from states with progressive education policies”, to find out how “woke” they were.

In collaboration with right-wing lobby group and media brand PragerU, the assessment will reportedly quiz them on three main subjects: knowledge of the US constitution, “understanding of American exceptionalism,” and the “fundamental biological differences between boys and girls”.

Commenting on the plans, Walters said he hoped the test would ensure that Oklahoma schools did not become a “haven for woke agendas.”

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