INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Braun signed two executive orders on Tuesday that focus on transgender people living in the Hoosier state.
Executive Order 25-35 bans transgender women and girls from participating in women's or girls’ sports in schools in the state of Indiana.
"Women’s sports create opportunities for young women to earn scholarships and develop leadership skills. Hoosiers overwhelmingly don’t want those opportunities destroyed by allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, and today’s executive order will make sure of that,” Gov. Braun said.
Executive Order 25-36 says only two genders —male and female— will be recognized in Indiana. State agencies, including the BMV, will recognize only two genders.
“Indiana will not go along with this radical new idea of what gender means, and we will not allow tax dollars to be used to promote this ideology,” Braun said.
The ACLU of Indiana released the following statement regarding the executive orders:
Make no mistake, Tuesday's Executive Orders are not pro-Indiana women; they are anti-transgender Hoosiers. Like other Indiana elected officials, the Governor is trying to erase any state recognition of Transgender Hoosiers and their families. If this order is interpreted to apply to basic government functions like drivers licenses, it will put transgender people in our state at risk of harm.
Unfortunately, this is just the latest example of the Governor using his first 100 days to target various groups of people in the state. His Executive Order on immigration needlessly created a wave of terror among Indiana’s immigrant communities. His Executive Order leading to the release of terminated pregnancy reports, against the guidance of Indiana’s Department of Health, created anxiety among many Hoosier women, particularly those who have had to access or may need to access an abortion under the extremely narrow exceptions to the state’s abortion ban.
The Governor came into office promising to focus on education, the economic health of families, quality of life for Hoosiers, and government efficiency. Instead, he is irresponsibly wielding executive authority to put into practice the beliefs of a small number of Hoosiers who don’t like transgender people and immigrants or support medical privacy for women in the state. His actions are harming residents who just want to contribute to the health and well-being of their communities, diminishing our state in the process.
ACLU of Indiana and our partners in all 92 counties have a different vision for our state. We believe Indiana works best when it respects basic constitutional rights and principles and treats everyone who lives here with dignity and respect. And we won’t stop fighting until our state’s laws and polices reflect that belief.
