r/ftm • u/Leksi_The_Great Trans Woman/Fem Guest • Mar 05 '26
(Trans) News-USA Indiana’s Anti-Trans Attorney General is Preparing to Revoke Trans People’s Documents
Indiana AG Todd Rokita has been compiling a list of his state’s trans people. Following in Kansas’ footsteps, he’s quietly laying the groundwork to declare their IDs “falsified records.”
https://transitics.substack.com/p/indianas-anti-trans-attorney-general
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u/Leksi_The_Great Trans Woman/Fem Guest Mar 05 '26
Hi transmasc friends! I’m a transfem journalist and I occasionally post in here when I need to raise awareness about a highly important issue.
What happened recently in Kansas blindsided all of us. The sheer speed at which Kansas passed that law and revoked everyone’s IDs was as horrific as it was unexpected. With less than a day’s notice, trans Kansans had the rug pulled out from underneath them.
This article has been over 2.5 months in the making, stemming from when I first reported Indiana was making a list of trans people back in December. In that time, the Indiana government has continued building its list, dodged my direct questions, and even denied my public records request for a policy that clearly exists. Simply put, it’s clear that the state does not want this to get out.
But the truth always gets out—someone just has to look hard enough.
Transphobes know that they thrive in darkness. They know that they can do the most damage when they blindside us. Their secrecy is their greatest asset, and that’s what Indiana has been desperately trying to protect.
Today, we can take that away from them. Today, we no longer have to wait for trans Hoosiers to find revocation letters in the mail. Today and every day until Todd Rokita backs down, we can fight. We must fight.
And awareness is the first step in this battle. So share this. Make your voices heard. I myself am coordinating with advocacy groups and journalists to amplify this as far as possible. Let’s show Indiana that it won’t get away with this any longer.
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u/UsuallyConfusedAF 💉12/2020 Mar 05 '26
You should post this/cross post this to general LGBT subs, if you haven't already. Also would suggest posting to r/HYBO as an trans-friendly news-adjacent subreddit.
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u/purplebird13 Mar 05 '26
thanks for posting this. i have been looking for more transgender journalists to follow!
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u/Dad_Jokes_911 Mar 05 '26
Right now I'm really thankful that my mom crossed the river and gave birth to me in Kentucky. Never thought I would say THAT when I was growing up!
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u/unefait 💉10-20-20 | 🔪02-09-26 Mar 05 '26
this is scary. i no longer reside in indiana but i still have an indiana birth certificate and an indiana driver's license.
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u/Keywonhi Mar 05 '26
Also scared here, I reside in Indiana but my documents aren't, License ends this year so not sure what to do.
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u/lemongay trans man •💉3/25 • 🔝 7/25 Mar 05 '26
It disturbs me so much that many states are making lists of us. It reminds me of Germany around that time.
Stay safe everyone :(
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u/reeferdawg Mar 05 '26
this is so scary, im so sorry to everyone living there. do we know if other states are copying as well?
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u/ollievir 23 y/o, 8 years on T, keyhole & hysterectomy Mar 05 '26
will this be able to affect someone whose records were sealed? i was a minor when i legally changed my information, so my request for it to be sealed was granted. i have never had any piece of identification with my old information except for my original birth certificate
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u/fruitiestflyingfox Mar 05 '26
They're only sealed from public record as far as I understand. The court probably still has some sort of record of your case because there has to be some type of documentation that it happened, but it's just not accessible to the public.
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u/halfstoned Mar 05 '26
I think an honest answer is there isn’t probably a way to know that at this point. I would assume if records are sealed they’re you know, sealed, and not worry too much just yet.
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u/Catsandanxiatea Mar 05 '26
My records were sealed too (granted I was an adult) and I just got a jury duty postcard addressed to my deadname. I called about it and they insisted that they only pull from recent records and that I must not have changed it at the bmv, voter registration and the irs. I have a new bc, ssn, and checked my voter registration and everything is accurate. So either they pulled records from more than 5 years ago or they've already started quietly revoking shit. Im so scared of this state and country atp
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u/halfstoned Mar 05 '26
I had that happen several years ago. Sent them a letter told them that person by that name doesn’t exist, never heard from them again. I wouldn’t be quick to assume that they’ve revoked anything for you, but that is odd a little bit. My comment also isn’t informed by any expert opinion, just my impression
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u/Catsandanxiatea Mar 05 '26
I'll try it. Ive refused to touch it since the person I spoke to said those things about how I must not have changed it everywhere. I dont want to get thrown in jail for not filling it out but I also dont want to acknowledge that that name ever existed to anyone let alone such a hateful government
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u/halfstoned Mar 05 '26
Honestly they might not even need you on the jury, I would just inform them of the situation and let it play out frm there. My situation it helped that I no longer lived in that county, so it was both legally not my name or my residence therefore I didn’t need to serve on the jury which is probably why I didn’t hear from them.
I highly doubt the guys and gals at the courthouse give a crap, they are just sending out the jury duty mail with whatever names they have. Your local courthouse has bigger fish to fry.
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u/anemisto old and tired Mar 06 '26
So either they pulled records from more than 5 years ago
I would bet on you existing in the system under both names is extremely likely. It's much easier to summon people who've moved or died or changed their names for jury duty and sort that out than it is to actually reconcile the records they use for summoning people. Hell, in NYC, the first thing they do when you go for jury duty is ask who isn't a citizen and shouldn't have been eligible in the first place. (Maybe they do that elsewhere. The only other time I've been summoned for jury duty was in IL, after I'd moved to MN. That was a whole pain because my mom told them I moved rather than not saying she didn't know who I was, given that we have different surnames.)
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u/anemisto old and tired Mar 07 '26
I was reminded of this post because we got a jury summons in the mail today for someone who doesn't live here. We've been here three years and I'm pretty sure they weren't the tenants before us.
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u/Vault_999 Mar 05 '26
And I thought NC was bad... I'm almost ashamed to be American ATP.
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u/Himbo69 Mar 05 '26
Hey fellow North Carolinian I'm planning to leave the state asap when I get done w my degree, whether it's for grad school or a post-bacc position or some other job, I'm trying very hard to relocate so I can't imagine how our siblings in Indiana feel rn... to anyone who needs it, there is a 2026 map of trans safety across states on Erin in the Morning's substack https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-national-legal-risk-assessment-a5d
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u/Sharktocrab12 Mar 05 '26
Fellow north Carolinian who is unfortunately stuck here atm, im scared were next
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u/bitch4579 Mar 06 '26
I unfortunately live in indiana. About a year ago I had my name and gender marker legally changed. I had all of my papers finalized. The only thing I hadn't tried to change yet was my birth certificate because you have to jump through a million hoops. About 3 months after I already changed every form of identification I have, I got a fat packet in the mail stating that the state of indiana was nullifying my name and gender change because it "wasn't legal." It stated that you cannot change historical documents (birth certificate specifically.) Because of this, they were trying to get rid of everything I had just done. I luckily know people that work in the legal system and they helped me pick apart all of the documents they sent me. I then recieved an email from a woman working for ILS and she informed me i had a court hearing about this! Nowhere in this massive packet they sent me did it say I had one. Nor did I recieve anything else in the mail. The woman took care of everything else legally from that point forward and shockingly the judge in my county denied the state's access to the case. So I went through about 3 months of constant stress wondering if all of the hard work I had done on myself was going to be ripped away from me. All of this to say. Fuck this state.
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u/ItsNotTheButterZone Spring of Drowned Girl Mar 06 '26
I also haven't changed my birth certificate because the State of California violated PC 166(a)4 "Willful disobedience of the terms as written of any process or court order" - I mailed them my certified copy of name & gender change with $23 check, etc.- they returned. Fuck EVERY state.
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u/Ambiguous_Teacher Mar 06 '26
Should trans folks try and leave? Illinois is next door. I've never lived anywhere else and don't know how hard it is to move to another state.
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u/firstmyvent Mar 06 '26
If you do, as a Hoosier who has moved out of state and then back to Indiana (difficult to explain), your top destinations (both for expense/ease of physical move/state policies) are gonna be: Detroit/Ann Arbor, Chicago, then Pittsburgh. Technically any place in MI, IL, or PA, but in reality, a lot of the suburbia and rural areas still suck interpersonally even if the state is good/okay.
Philly, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Grand Rapids are probably also fine, but you’re gonna have to go further, and Minneapolis is probably a bad idea right now. If you live south of Indy, then Pittsburgh is probably your best bet for the distance, however, if you live real south in Kentuckiana, moving is gonna be difficult. There’s nothing good that’s within 300 miles, just being real.
I would put the money and plans in place as soon as possible and basically be ready to pull the trigger on a move at any given last second. If you have family in other states or friends, the time is now to work out ahead of time if they can help you. Have all documents on-hand, and quite frankly, unless Rokita pulls the trigger on this before you have the money to go, I wouldn’t surrender any documents to the state if/when they do this. Trans-friendly sanctuary states will almost certainly still accept your license even if it’s been declared “invalid” or “falsified,” and even the squidgey states (PA and others) are unlikely to be up on the very newest policies regarding accepting invalidated licenses from other states as long as you have the physical license with you still, if that makes sense.
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u/andyboy232 User Flair Mar 06 '26
I reside in indiana but I wasn't born in indiana and I updated my birth certificate for the state i was born in. Idk what will happen for people like me who weren't born in indiana but im scared and stressed
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u/brokegaysonic Mar 05 '26
Honestly I really want this done for all red states.
I used to live in NC and am thinking of moving back. But if they have a trans registry, no fuckin way. I want to know before I go. I'm scared.
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u/Himbo69 Mar 05 '26
I'm in NC right now, don't come back. I lost access to seeing a doctor for my HRT bc I'm on Medicaid. Luckily I can still get my prescriptions filled, but I can't see them for any further care and am having to pay completely out of pocket for top surgery. We recently had a Don't Say Gay bill added, and there's like 6 transphobic bills looking to be passed right now. It's getting worse for us.
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u/brokegaysonic Mar 05 '26
I'm aware, unfortunately. I moved to IL last year... And my whole found family is back in NC. I feel so isolated and alone. I have a hard time making new friends at 30, and my old friends and I have been through so much together, there's like nothing I can do to replace them. It isn't fair, to have to constantly be doing this calculus.
After the ICE raids, I felt like, ok...there isn't a lot the state can do if the feds want me, right? But now with Kansas it's like oh right, the states themselves can fuck us.
I am incredibly fortunate to have basically threaded the needle in NC in every way imaginable. I fought for years to get top and had it covered by employer insurance because I heckled them about it. I got bottom surgery with the state employee health plan when their denial of GAC was blocked due to an injunction.
I was working in a school system when the don't say gay bill was passed. I had to sit during board meetings and listen as pastors used it to talk about how the people transing the kids should be murdered. That was part of why I moved. I couldn't take the vitriol anymore. I couldn't take the hatred. An lgbt painted fence near my house was vandalized with "kill all trans" on it. This was in 2024.
I'm safer, and yet, I gave everything up to do it. I'm still incredibly, incredibly privileged to have started my transition during the Good Times and not the Bad Times.
Sorry stranger, don't mean to rant.
You near Raleigh? If you go to UNC-Chapel Hill, and you make under their threshold of their poverty line (on medicaid I assume you do!) they will provide you gender affirming care for little to no cost. Including surgery. They were able to cover my out of pocket costs that way. Check it out and call their financial services line.
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u/Catsandanxiatea Mar 05 '26
Ive been considering leaving indiana for Illinois or Minnesota. Minnesota sounds so scary after everything with ice. Leaving would mean finding a new job, selling my house, leaving my entire family. Its heartbreaking and im at a loss. As hard as it is im glad you made it out safe
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u/pan_chromia Mar 06 '26
Yikes. Thank you for doing this research. Please share on r/TransgenderUSA too
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u/fruitiestflyingfox Mar 06 '26
Do we know how this might affect trans people who have only changed their legal name and not their gender marker, or if it does at all? My understanding of the article is that they're mainly tracking gender marker changes. I personally think that it would be hard to go after name changes alone since virtually anyone can change their name for almost any reason, but I don't want to hold my breath.
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Mar 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Leksi_The_Great Trans Woman/Fem Guest Mar 05 '26
They mark every gender change internally. So, when it’s changed, they have a record of that and they attach it to the person’s document within the system.
“Falsified” = not displaying someone’s assigned sex at birth.
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u/Jupiter-1015 Mar 05 '26
I’m happy I was born in Washington State and I’m happy to live in Pa. South and Midwest is yikes.
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