ACLU sues governor over order that halted gender marker changes on birth certificates

(Adobe Stock photo)

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit Friday against Gov. Mike Braun over his order that prevents transgender Hoosiers from changing the gender markers on their birth certificates.

Braun signed an executive order on March 4, ending the process within the Vital Records Division of the Indiana Department of Health that allowed for the changing of gender markers under a court order.

“Transgender Hoosiers have a right to accurate birth certificates to live safely and authentically. Court-ordered changes to birth certificates are common for a number of reasons, and to deny trans people the right to change these important documents is discrimination,” ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk said in a press release.

Braun spokesman Griffin Reid said the governor has confidence in Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s ability to defend the state against the ACLU’s lawsuit.

When signing the executive order challenged by the lawsuit, Braun characterized the changing of gender markers as radical and dangerous.

“Replacing the scientific fact of biological sex with the always-changing, self-reported idea of ‘gender identity’ has real consequences,” Braun said at the time. “It puts women in danger in female-only spaces like prisons, it destroys opportunities for women in sports, and it tells troubled kids that their mental health problems can be solved with sterilizing drugs and irreversible sex change operations.

The ACLU of Indiana’s client for the lawsuit is a 15-year-old transgender girl identified in legal documents as L.A. The trial court issued an order that the gender marker on her birth certificate should be changed but that change has never happened.

“The Executive Order is disconnected from the reality that transgender persons and other gender-diverse persons exist in Indiana,” the lawsuit reads. “The reality that gender identity may differ from the sex assigned at birth is a matter of science and medicine and also is recognized by courts, including the United States Supreme Court.”

The ACLU is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. It defines the class as all people who are unable to obtain a change in the gender marker on their Indiana birth certificate due to the executive order and any subsequent similar executive orders.

The suit accuses Braun of violating the equal protection clause and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The ACLU of Indiana is asking the federal court to grant a preliminary injunction halting the executive order.

The case is L.A., a minor child, by her parent, next friend, and legal guardian, Rai Eury, on her own behalf and on behalf of a class of those similarly situated v. Mike Braun, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Indiana; Larry Ervin, in his official capacity as State Registrar & Division Director of Vital Records of the Indiana Department of Health, 1:25-cv-596.