Advocacy group says more than two dozen anti-LGBT bills have been filed in Okla.

Advocacy groups say more than two dozen anti-LGBT bills have already been filed in Oklahoma.

Austin Sims says he's proud to be a native Oklahoman as well as a transgender man.

"I live my life as the man I've always known myself to be," Sims said.

But this year, he says he is concerned about his home state legislating discrimination. Freedom Oklahoma has outlined 27 bills filed this year that the group considers anti-LGBT.

One bill would keep transgender people from using the public restroom they identify with while another promotes the controversial practice of conversion therapy. The group says another bill has been filed that would limit how educators and counselors can help LGBT students.

"Advocates claim these laws are about religious freedom but they threaten the very fabric of our great state," First United Presbyterian Church of Guthrie Pastor Scott Foster said.

Freedom Oklahoma and the ACLU say the laws don't just discriminate but they also distract from bigger issues like Oklahoma's looming $900 million budget crisis. Freedom Oklahoma's Troy Stevenson says they're being pushed out by a small section of Republican lawmakers.

"This is five, five legislators that continue to push their agenda onto their colleagues and onto Oklahomans," Stevenson said.

One of those five is longtime state lawmaker Sally Kern, who authored the bill requiring counselors to notify parents before helping teens on sexuality issues.

"It's a bill that deals with upholding parental rights and ensuring that the rights of parents are not violated or discriminated against," Kern said.

Advocates argue that if these measures pass, Oklahoma could lose millions in business.

"They will not come into Oklahoma, they will not bring their conferences to Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They will not have anything to do with a state that is willing to openly and actively discriminate against its own citizens," Stevenson said.

Freedom Oklahoma says that in addition to fighting these bills once the legislative session starts, if any of them do pass they will take them to court.