Dozens of Hoosiers testified on July 22 in opposition to a proposed rule change by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles that would prohibit gender marker changes on driver’s licenses, an effort stemming from Gov. Mike Braun’s executive order from March that aimed to promote the “biological dichotomy between men and women” and discourage “modern gender ideology.”
BMV leaders, though, likely don’t have much power to significantly alter the proposed rule since the agency has to comply with Braun’s order.
“While we are committed to ensuring that all voices and points of view are heard and considered,” Gregory Dunn, executive director of communications for the BMV said in a statement, “we also have a responsibility to carry out our duties as defined by law.”
What was intended to be an hour-long public hearing stretched nearly three hours as speakers criticized what some described as an intentionally anti-transgender initiative by state elected officials. Among them were transgender Hoosiers and advocates alike, including a 15-year-old nonbinary teenager looking to get their driver’s license and a man with an intersex partner.
Before Gov. Braun’s order, people could change gender markers on their licenses by obtaining a court order, a process speakers described as arduous.
Under the proposed rule change, the gender on an individual’s driver’s license must reflect their biological sex determined at birth. An “X” will no longer be allowed in place of a gender marker for nonbinary people. While driver’s licenses that have already changed will remain valid, new licenses issued must follow the updated guidelines.
Shortly after Braun’s executive order, the Indiana Department of Health told local health departments to stop accepting requests to change genders on birth certificates. When a health department subsequently refused to change the gender of a teenage transgender girl on the birth certificate, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued the governor for allegedly violating the equal protection and privacy clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
The executive order has not been the first challenge to the BMV’s policy of changing gender markers. In 2020, then-Attorney General Curtis Hill issued an advisory opinion saying the BMV did not have the authority to issue an “X” as a gender marker. That opinion eventually led to an Indiana Court of Appeals decision in 2024 that determined “gender” has the same legal meaning as “sex” when it comes to laws pertaining to motor vehicles, a precedent that was cited by a regulatory analysis of the proposed rule change.
That same regulatory analysis became a point of contention for some speakers, specifically one line that listed “impacted parties” as “none.”
Those who testified cited scientific studies, legal principles, Bible verses and poems. They described hypothetical scenarios where the proposed rule change could cause more confusion at traffic stops, in hospitals and even when issuing a description for a missing person.
Among the speakers was Kit Malone, a transgender woman and former strategist for the ACLU who said the change will impact transgender Hoosiers in everyday scenarios where IDs are required, like bars, movie theaters and grocery store checkouts, because many will not look like the gender listed on their ID.
“I updated my ID because it was getting weird not to,” she said. “I was getting looks.”
Eli Lucas, a transgender man who works for a Fortune 500 company in Indianapolis, said the change affects hardworking taxpayers like himself. He said he feared the change could complicate police interactions, enhance the risk of violence and create humiliation in everyday interactions that require an ID.
“We transgender Hoosiers are your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends and your family who simply want to live without fear,” he said.
Others spoke to the broader political climate, referencing a pastor who delivered a sermon in June at an Indianapolis church where he told congregants to pray for the deaths of LGBTQ+ people. Some who testified said they had friends who had left Indiana because of its attitude toward transgender people, but that they loved the state they grew up in too much to follow them.
Amy Kleyla, a combat veteran and 50501 protest organizer, said the national environment had gotten increasingly hostile as well. She said she transitioned 28 years ago but has never experienced as much hate as she has this year.
“That hate is force fed into the American people right now,” Kleyla said.
The BMV did not provide details about how much the agency could modify the proposed changes to still comply with Braun’s executive order.
“Hoosiers have too many pressing needs to spend their tax dollars trying to redefine what it means to be a boy or a girl,” Braun previously said when he signed the executive order. “Today’s executive order will end any confusion about our state’s policy on this issue so we can focus on my goal to secure freedom and opportunity for all Hoosiers.”
Contact Marissa Meador at mmeador@gannett.com or find her on X at @marissa_meador.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: BMV hearing on banning gender marker changes goes long amid opposition