Amid the opening salvo of a potentially devastating U.S. trade war with Canada, Indiana's largest export market, Gov. Mike Braun decided Tuesday to take a shot at transgender Hoosiers.
The Republican issued two executive orders directing state agencies under his control to refrain from promoting "modern gender ideology" and demanding a report on transgender participation in post-secondary athletic programs.
"Replacing the scientific fact of biological sex with the always-changing, self-reported idea of 'gender identity' has real consequences: it puts women in danger in female-only spaces like prisons, it destroys opportunities for women in sports, and it tells troubled kids that their mental health problems can be solved with sterilizing drugs and irreversible sex change operations," Braun said.
"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 — instead, we're going to focus on providing freedom and opportunity for all Hoosiers."
Braun's orders are likely to have little practical impact since the Republican-controlled General Assembly already has spent the past few years repeatedly targeting transgender Hoosiers.
As a result, Hoosiers under age 18 are prohibited from accessing medical care for gender dysphoria, even with their parent's consent; transgender girls are barred from girls sports teams; X-gender driver's licenses are not available at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles; schools must notify parents any time a student requests to be called by anything other than their legal name; transgender state prison inmates cannot obtain gender-affirming surgical care; and the process of amending a birth certificate's gender designation is a legal muddle.
Several of those statutes have been deemed unconstitutional by federal courts that have determined state laws singling out transgender Hoosiers violate federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex.
Though others have been allowed to take effect since not a single person currently is affected by them, such as transgender girls playing on girls sports teams at Indiana schools.
This isn't the first time Braun has tackled such issues. In 2022, Braun joined several of his U.S. Senate colleagues in demanding a warning label be slapped on children's television programming that contains lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender characters, or any discussion of issues relating to gender or sexuality.
He's also expressed interest in the U.S. Supreme Court rescinding its 1967 ruling that legalized interracial marriage nationwide and voted against the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, which requires states to recognize the validity of a legal marriage performed anywhere in the United States between two individuals — no matter their sex, race, ethnicity or national origin — even if the state otherwise bars same-sex or interracial marriage.
Meanwhile, at least some of the $14.9 billion in Indiana-made products annually exported to Canada are poised to be hit by retaliatory tariffs, reducing demand and likely Indiana employment, while Hoosier businesses and consumers are forced to pay a 25% federal tariff on the $11.1 billion in products Indiana imports each year from Canada.