A transgender student at IU was able to get the name and gender on her official identifying documents changed this month. The student initiated her process before a recent executive order in Indiana halted new requests for gender marker changes on birth records, taking that opportunity away from others.
The student, who wished to remain anonymous for privacy and safety concerns, started the process of getting her name and gender marker changed nine months ago, but financial issues delayed her. When she was able to resume the process, she felt the need to complete it quickly, fearing Indiana could pass legislation further blocking her and others from changing their records.
“For me, being a woman has always been about more than legal documents,” the student said in an email. “But as I continue socially transitioning, I realize that the mismatch between my physical appearance and my official records is something I care about more now that I’m being seen as feminine.”
The executive order
Though courts can still order gender marker changes, the Indiana Department of Health has stopped processing and approving such court-ordered requests for changes made after March 4. Requests filed before the executive order and applications in process on March 4 will not follow the new policy but will be reviewed by the Indiana attorney general’s office before approval.
That was one ramification of the executive order signed by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun last month, aiming to align Indiana law with “the biological binary of man and woman.”
The order outlines Braun’s definitions of sex, gender, female, male and more while rejecting “modern gender ideology.” These definitions lay out mandatory guidelines for state agencies to abide by and enforce. It also bars state funds from being used to “promote gender ideology” in any way.
Braun wrote in the executive order these guidelines are necessary because biological binary is a “deeply rooted principle of American legal history.” He wrote that modern gender ideology is “disconnected from biological reality” and is not a “meaningful basis for identification.”
The order led the Indiana Department of Health to issue guidance to county and local health agencies to halt the processing of gender change requests on Hoosiers’ birth records.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit against Braun on March 28 on behalf of trans Hoosiers seeking to update the gender markers on their birth records.
In lieu of providing a comment to the Indiana Daily Student about the order, the governor’s office directed the Indiana Daily Student to a March 4 press release about the executive order and another executive order that further prohibits transgender women from competing in women’s collegiate sports.
How it’s impacting trans Hoosiers
The first step for trans Americans in updating all identifying legal documents is often changing their gender on their birth records.
The trans student at IU got her name and gender marker changed on her official documents this April after a nine-month-long process. She communicated with the IDS over email due to a speech impediment.
“If I couldn’t change my name and gender marker, I’d feel uncomfortable in formal situations like applying for jobs, where my birth certificate could cause confusion and force me to explain myself unnecessarily,” she wrote.
Nine months after initiating the process, the student sat through a hearing in a county circuit court that ended with her successfully getting her name and gender changed on her official records.
“Sitting in the courtroom, I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment—like ‘finally’,” she wrote. “Changing my name has always been something I wanted to do, but the process was intimidating.”
Having the process done, the students said, “makes me feel entirely complete.”
Braun’s executive order, she wrote, has been “horrifying.” She said she sympathizes with transgender, queer and nonbinary people, especially fellow college students, living in Indiana.
“Seeing the push to reject people like me just for existing is tough,” she wrote. “I know some people are scared to start transitioning or updating their legal info because of this.”
As a transgender Latina person, she wrote, it has been tough for her to find community at IU. She fears being trans in Indiana because she feels it is “a state that’s attacking gender nonconformity and LGBTQIA+ youth”.
Also affecting transgender Hoosiers, Senate Enrolled Act 480 was signed in 2023, prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors. House Enrolled Act 1608 was also signed into law in 2023, disallowing Indiana teachers from teaching pre-kindergarten to third grade students about human sexuality and requiring schools to notify the guardian of a student who requests to be called by a different name or use different pronouns in school.
“The rejection of gender identity is misguided — sex and gender are much more diverse than that,” she wrote. “My heart goes out to the trans and LGBTQIA+ people, especially those from marginalized communities, who feel like they don’t belong here.”
Safety risks
Richard Brandon-Friedman, an associate professor of social work at IU Indianapolis, said his biggest concern with the executive order is safety.
If someone’s document does not match their outward appearance, Brandon-Friedman said, they could face questions about the legitimacy of their documents.
"Or they’re going to have been outed and have safety concerns about how someone might react to their identity,” Brandon-Friedman said.
He added that having different documents with different details on them, one changed and one not, could be difficult for someone to navigate and explain.
“If we move even beyond just the physical safety, there’s the emotional safety of being forced to have your legal documents not match who you are,” Brandon-Friedman said. “It’s constantly being confronted with a message that your state doesn’t respect who you are.”
Brandon-Friedman said he’s concerned for the physical and mental safety of transgender and nonbinary people in Indiana and across the entire country.
“You have to deal with aspects of individual harassment, discrimination that happen in their day-to-day lives,” he said. “And then they’re also getting the message from their government, whether it’s the federal level or the state level, that is either denying their existence or actively saying ‘you don’t know yourself, we know you better than you do.’”
“It’s up to us to fight back”
Nalini Krishnan, an IU senior and president of the IU Queer Student Union, said she would like to eventually change her name and gender on her official records.
Krishnan, who identifies as transfeminine and queer, said she feels the executive order puts all transgender and intersex Hoosiers at risk.
“It’s just another level of scrutiny and infringement on the right to privacy of transgender people,” Krishnan said. “Anytime we have to show our IDs, all of a sudden we are immediately put into a situation where we might have to fear for our lives or just fear being discriminated against.”
Krishnan was born and raised in Indiana. She said it’s disheartening to feel attacked by the state she feels such a strong connection to.
“I want with all my heart to stay in Indiana because I love this state, but I can’t take care of myself, I can’t prioritize my own protection while doing so,” Krishnan said. “So, it’s forcing me to consider moving out.”
The idea of moving out of Indiana as a transgender person, she said, is what she feels many Indiana politicians want.
Krishnan said she plans to apply for law school after graduating and start working in immigration and civil rights law, specifically to “help defend LGBTQ+ people, migrants and refugees.” That’s one reason why, despite attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people in Indiana and America as a whole, Krishnan wants to stay in the country.
“I don’t think I would ever leave the U.S.,” she said. “I think there’s so much work to do here, and I always want to keep fighting for the folks that are here, my own community.”
Krishnan noted it is important to acknowledge that this does not only infringe on the rights of transgender and intersex people but the rights of all Hoosiers.
“This is a limit on our freedoms across the board, and this is just the first step and it’s a stepping stone to see how far they can push us,” Krishnan said. “It’s up to us to fight back, to rally together, and it’s up to allies to maintain solidarity during this time and not to let threats like these scare us and keep us from speaking out.”
