Ohio blocks trans people from changing their gender marker on ID in sudden move
Ohio just made it harder for trans folk to change their gender on their ID (Image: Getty Images, stock)
Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has stopped allowing people to change the gender marker on driver’s licences and state ID cards to reflect someone’s gender identity, instead requiring the marker to match a birth certificate or passport.
Previously, Ohioans could change the gender marker on their licence or ID by submitting a form to the BMV, however that process has been immediately discontinued. Ohio joins a growing list of states, including Wyoming, where changes to gender markers on ID are either banned or more difficult to make.
BMV spokesperson Lindsey Bohrer told the Toledo Blade: “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.”
Transgender people seeking to change the gender marker on an Ohio licence or ID are reportedly required to first update the marker on their birth certificate. The change is also reportedly required by language in a budget signed in June by Republican governor Mike DeWine.
Equality Ohio executive director Dwayne Steward condemned the move, saying: “Changing a policy this consequential overnight, without warning or transparency, is not an accident – it is a choice.” Steward added: “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.”
New definitions in Ohio law
The change follows new statutory language that defines “sex” and rejects gender identity as a basis for identification. The law states: “‘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.”
It also says: “‘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.”
Why accurate ID matters for trans people
The Ohio BMV is the state agency responsible for issuing and administering driver’s licences, state IDs, vehicle registration, and related records. Gender marker policies on IDs are often central to trans rights debates because IDs are routinely required for employment, housing, travel, and voting-related identity checks.
Across the US, state-level ID rules vary widely, with some states allowing self-identification and others requiring medical or court documentation. Changes to ID policies can disproportionately affect trans people’s privacy and safety by increasing the risk of being outed during routine interactions, particularly when documents do not match their presentation.
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