INDIANA — In a major policy shift, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has announced it will no longer allow residents to update gender markers on driver’s licenses or state IDs. The change, which effectively ends a decade-long practice, is scheduled to take effect this Thursday, February 12.
Until now, Hoosiers could update their gender designation by providing a court-ordered gender change or a signed physician’s statement. As of Thursday, those documents will no longer be accepted to amend a credential’s gender field.
The BMV’s decision follows Executive Order 25-36, signed by Governor Mike Braun in March 2025. The order established a state policy to “respect and enforce the biological binary of man and woman,” rejecting what the Governor termed “modern gender ideology.”
Under the directive, state agencies are instructed to define “sex” and “gender” as synonymous and immutable classifications determined at birth. The BMV stated that the rule change is necessary to maintain compliance with this executive order and a 2024 Indiana Court of Appeals ruling that defined gender under the state’s motor vehicle code specifically as biological sex.
The move has sparked immediate backlash from advocacy groups and a series of legal challenges:
The ACLU of Indiana filed a class-action lawsuit shortly after the 2025 executive order, arguing that the policy discriminates against transgender residents and violates their right to privacy.
In September 2025, a federal judge denied a preliminary injunction against the state, ruling that Indiana has a “rational basis” for recording biological sex on official documents rather than gender identity.
The Indiana Youth Group (IYG), the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ youth organization, condemned the “impossible timeline” given to residents to act. “Mismatched identification can expose individuals to harassment, threats, and violence,” the group stated in a press release.
While the Indiana BMV briefly offered a nonbinary “X” gender option in 2019, that offering was largely stalled by previous legal challenges and legislative pushback. This new rule solidifies a binary-only system for all state-issued credentials moving forward.
