In an interview with Newsmax, Gov. Kevin Stitt said the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has banned its employees from using pronouns in their email signatures, a measure he said made five employees “leave in protest.”
Stitt appeared on the right-wing cable news channel to discuss the implementation of the newly minted Oklahoma Division of Government Efficiency, DOGE-OK, in the state.
Stitt then shared a clip from the interview on X on Friday, saying “sayonara” to the employees he says left due to the rule change.
We’ve been DOGE-ing in Oklahoma before it was cool.
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) February 14, 2025
Our department of mental health just sent an agency wide memo banning pronouns in email signatures. Five employees resigned on the spot— sayonara! pic.twitter.com/UDa0c7tlgl
“I’ve been high-fiving everyone around the office today,” Stitt said during the interview.
According to Stitt, the ban was sent in an agency memo to all company employees.
Kelsey Davis, a spokesperson for the Department of Mental Health, could not confirm Gov. Stitt’s announcement. She provided a copy of agency-wide email communications from July 2024 mandating a standardized email signature, along with specifications for employee headshots.
The mandated standardized signature does not include pronouns.
Davis confirmed there have been a number of recent resignations at the department, but said she was unable to discuss the “personal matters of those employees.”
In his seventh State of the State address earlier this month, Stitt he plans to have fewer state employees in Oklahoma by the time he leaves than when he started in 2019.
Copyright 2025 KOSU
