A bill defining sex and gender would clamp down on birth records, schools and prisons

A Senate committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would define “sex” and “gender” in state law based on certain biological characteristics at birth and add requirements for prison housing. A last-minute amendment added restrictions on bathrooms at all public schools.

After an emotional public hearing, the Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services sent Senate Bill 182 to the full chamber. Authored by Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne), the legislation effectively bans gender marker changes on birth certificates and defines “gender” as a synonym for “sex,” excluding a person’s “subjective experience.”

“It is very important for us to be able to define male, female, and have a definition enshrined in code — not an ideology, a scientific-based definition — so that our agencies, our prisons, et cetera, are all working on the same basis,” Brown said. “This bill is just about safety, and in the course of examining this bill, we realize that there are too many definitions and just caused more confusion.”

The bill would codify recent moves by the state, including a governor’s executive order, health department policy on birth certificate requests and Bureau of Motor Vehicles rules that restrict gender marker changes on driver’s licenses.

It would also open a new chapter for transgender residents of Indiana, who were previously able to request birth record gender changes. 

Opponents, including transgender people and parents of transgender children, said that the bill not only addresses a made-up problem and harms transgender people, it also doesn’t follow science. They warned it would out transgender people and expose private medical information.

"Today the committee is being asked to enshrine an ideology regarding sex which doesn’t reflect medical science, [and] contradicts the findings of 29 of the largest U.S. health organizations ... and does this for the purpose of banning individuals from amending their birth certificates," testified Emma Vosicky, the executive director of GenderNexus, an organization that supports gender-diverse youth.

“This bill furthers a permission structure for harm,” Vosicky said.

Dozens of major medical associations recognize transgender people and support evidence-based gender-affirming care, which is a multi-disciplinary approach to treating a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Some medical groups, like the American Medical Association, have adopted resolutions of support. 

Supporters argued that the proposal would protect women. They included Erica O’Connell, legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, and Laura Hanford of the Heritage Foundation. The two groups have challenged LGBTQ rights with legislation and litigation.

“Our office also has a specific interest in ensuring that Indiana Code prohibits birth certificate changes based on — well, to prohibit, to ensure — that they reflect anything other than biological sex,” said Erin Tuttle, Attorney General Todd Rokita’s legislative director.

Brown’s proposed law defines only two sexes “in the human species with the organization of anatomy, hormones and the gametes oriented toward fertilization” for sexual reproduction. 

Gender is defined as a synonym of sex. The definition excludes a person’s “psychological, behavioral, social, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.”

Ken Inskeep — a co-founder of Gender Expansive Kids & Co., or GEKCO, which provides support for families of transgender youth — spoke emotionally about the challenges facing his transgender son.

“The entire U.S. has become so inhospitable that my son has had to leave the country just to ensure he can get the medical care, accurate government identity documents, and to be free from physical and emotional danger,” Inskeep said. He also noted his son canceled plans to attend family holiday celebrations out of fear his documents would be seized during travel.

Changes at schools, prisons

The proposed legislation would mandate that all public schools and universities designate multiple-person restrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas for use by "males" or "females" based on their reproductive biology at birth. 

Schools would be required to enforce these rules, prohibiting students from using facilities that do not match their sex at birth. The bill also bans schools from requiring students to share sleeping quarters, such as during overnight field trips or in campus housing, with members of the opposite sex.

Under the new rules, schools could face lawsuits if they allow a student to use a facility designated for the opposite sex or fail to take reasonable steps to stop it. 

The legislation also requires the Department of Correction formally assign people in prison to sex-segregated housing based on their biological sex at birth.

The department has determined housing for the over 100 transgender and intersex people in state prisons on a case-by-case basis. All of these people are in facilities that correspond with their sex at birth, according to an analysis by the bipartisan Legislative Services Agency.

Opponents of the change say that placing transgender people according to birth sex exposes them to disproportionate violence or harassment in prison.

The committee sent the bill to the full Senate along party lines.

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