The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced that, moving forward, it will no longer allow transgender Ohioans to change the gender listed on their driver’s license or state ID through self-certification. Instead, the agency will change gender markers only with an updated birth certificate or passport.
This is because the previous document, known as Form 2369, no longer complies with an updated state law declaring that Ohio recognizes only two sexes/the sex assigned at birth.
Form 2369 used self-certification when applying for driver’s licenses and state IDs. With the new requirement, the BMV now requires an updated birth certificate or a passport showing the desired gender marker to change it on a state-issued driver’s license or ID.
Anti-LGBTQIA+ lawmakers in Ohio inserted this language into the state budget, and it was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine last year.
Transgender Ohioans can still change the gender marker on their birth certificates in at least eight counties. This is because the Ohio Supreme Court was split on a key case (In re Application for Correction of Birth Record of Adelaide) without setting a binding precedent, thereby leaving individual probate judges to decide whether to permit gender marker changes on birth records.
