A wide-ranging restrictive gender bill failed this legislative session

Legislation that would have restricted birth certificate gender marker changes failed the Indiana General Assembly this year. The measure would have also defined the words sex, gender, male, and female in state law according to certain biological characteristics present at birth.

Lawmakers adjourned the legislative session last month, and while Senate Bill 182 had early momentum, it only passed in the Senate. The shortened legislative session was characterized by a contentious fight in December over redistricting. Lawmakers had a busy calendar and established priorities with the remaining time.

The wide-ranging gender bill would have also restricted housing in prison based on sex, and a last-minute amendment would have restricted bathrooms and other facilities in all public schools based on certain biological characteristics present at birth.

After the issue received an emotional public hearing in January, the Senate passed the bill to the House, where it languished in a public health committee. 

Emma Vosicky, executive director of GenderNexus, testified against the bill in January. The group provides support to gender-diverse people.

She’s relieved it didn’t become law, saying it would have caused widespread harm to transgender and gender-diverse Indiana residents by forcibly outing them.

“There’s never been any harm shown by allowing changes to birth certificates” or allowing transgender people to use a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, Vosicky said, contrasting. “My hope is that the reason it didn’t go is because it wasn’t a matter of any harm.”

Bill author Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne) proposed amendments to other legislation that would have preserved portions of the bill, but they did not pass.

In a statement, Brown said that the House failed Hoosiers and that women’s spaces deserve protection.

Last month, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles formalized a ban on driver’s license gender marker changes, citing an executive order from Gov. Mike Braun.

Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org