Ohio abruptly blocks transgender people from changing gender markers on IDs

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles will no longer change the gender marker on a driver’s license or state identification card at the holder’s request.

Instead, transgender people seeking to change the gender marker on their license or ID to match their identity must first update the marker on their birth certificate, according to the Toledo Blade.

Ohio BMV spokesman Lindsey Bohrer told the newspaper that the change was required by language in the budget signed in June by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

Related: Ohio Supreme Court punts on transgender people changing their birth certificates

“The BMV will record the sex that is stated on an individual’s birth certificate or passport as the sex that will be reflected on the Ohio driver license or ID card,” Bohrer said.

The Trump administration has already said it will not allow passport holders to have gender markers aligned with their gender identities, and the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed that policy to remain in effect while a legal challenge works its way through the courts.

The change in Ohio state law refuses to recognize transgender or nonbinary identities on government-issued identification.

“‘Gender identity’ means an individual's internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex,” the law now reads.

Related: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs executive order banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors

The law also states: “‘Sex’ means the biological indication of male and female, including sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual's psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.”

Previously, Ohioans could change the gender marker on their license or ID by submitting a form to the BMV, but the agency is immediately discontinuing that process.

The change drew a rebuke from LGBTQ+ advocates in the state.

“Changing a policy this consequential overnight, without warning or transparency, is not an accident — it is a choice,” said Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio. “It is a deliberate attempt at voter suppression and an intentional decision to make life harder for transgender Ohioans while hoping no one notices until it is too late. We noticed. We are paying attention. And we will not stop fighting until every Ohioan has true lived and legal equality.”