Hi loves,

I am a trans woman in the state of Indiana, and I need your help. In January 2023 I was denied my request for a gender marker change. 

Around the 1800 signature mark, on June 13, I was notified the judge is aware of the petition and has scheduled a new hearing to address this matter. 

I won’t stop fighting until they fix every gender marker change they have blocked this year. For free. If they won’t, I’m going to keep demanding that any judge who voted this into effect is forced to step down. This is bigger than me. 

This is just one small piece of the slate of hate which LGBTQIA+ citizens of Indiana (and beyond) are currently faced with, but we have to start somewhere. 

My ID now incorrectly reads "male," an error in documentation which has already put me in real danger. I have to worry about every gas station attendant, bank teller, police officer, or airport employee who may see the discrepancy between my name and my legal gender.

This “new rule” came from a case in December which I will reference below. The judge told me they have no timeline on when this may be corrected. 

In January at my hearing for my name and gender marker change, Judge Spritzer came out of his chambers and said I was the first of trans people in our state to be denied this right. He said that this was the result of a “new rule” which he and other judges imposed on themselves, voted into effect in December (at the Indiana Court of Appeals [ref. 22A-MI-502]). 

He told me that judges have lost the ability to approve a change to one's gender marker. I later came to find out from the ACLU that was not true and this was Judge Spritzer's misinterpretation of the law. In Indianapolis people are still changing gender markers, but in more conservative counties judges are not. I have decided to do everything I can to ensure both he and other judges who have forced their will on people like me are held responsible. 

Your signatures will help this make local and national news where we can really put this misinterpretation of the law in the spotlight. 

I am demanding justice for my trans brothers and sisters. I believe that any lawmaker or judge involved in the writing of an anti-trans bill or otherwise hurtful decision should be forced to step down. They are putting people in harm's way. The people they swore to protect. 

I tagged my petition as national, because as other conservative states find out Indiana judges introduced all this without even passing a bill, I fear they will follow in our steps. We have to put an end to this. I won't stop until justice is served. 

-Tiffany Veneno Resilience

gofundme.com/f/gendermarkerindiana