Indiana Republican introduces bill that would erase transgender people and deny marriage equality

Source: The Advocate

Indiana Republican introduces bill that would erase transgender people and deny marriage equality

The bill from Rep. Chris Judy would recognize only the gender assigned at birth and strengthen the state's existing but unenforceable ban on same-sex marriage.

BY TRUDY RING
JANUARY 12 2024 4:58 PM EST

A Republican legislator in Indiana wants to define gender in state law as the “biological sex” assigned at birth, effectively erasing transgender and nonbinary people, and deny recognition to same-sex marriages.

Rep. Chris Judy’s House Bill 1291, introduced for consideration in this year’s session of the Indiana legislature, would amend state statutes to replace the term “gender” with “biological sex,” based on a person’s sex assigned at birth and reproductive capabilities.

“‘Sex’ means the biological, genetic identity of a person as either male or female,” the bill reads. “This term does not include gender identity or any other term that conveys a person's subjective identification of a term other than male or female.”

This would affect discrimination cases, driver’s licenses and other official documents, state data collection, and more. Indiana law doesn’t ban anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that federal law against sex discrimination in employment applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

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Read more: https://www.advocate.com/politics/indiana-gender-erasure-marriage-equality