Ohio restricts gender-marker changes on IDs for transgender people

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has stopped accepting a dedicated form that allowed transgender people to change the sex marker on state driver’s licenses and identification cards. The change became public on 18 August 2026; the agency now requires the sex shown on an ID to match a birth certificate or passport, PinkNews reports .

The Declaration of Gender Change form had been used since 2009 and required the signature of a medical or mental-health professional. As Ohio public radio station WOSU explains , the new procedure does not formally make a marker change impossible, but it removes the previous stand-alone route through the BMV: applicants must first have a source document carrying the requested designation.

The BMV said the former form was incompatible with current state law. Section 9.05 of the Ohio Revised Code , enacted as part of a 2025 budget law and effective from 30 September 2025, establishes a state policy of recognising two sexes, male and female, and says gender identity cannot replace sex for state identification.

Changing an Ohio birth certificate requires an order from a probate court, and practice differs by county. Equality Ohio told WOSU that it knows of eight counties currently processing such applications. According to the BMV’s explanation, a passport that already carries the changed designation may also be used as the basis for the marker on a state ID.

Equality Ohio executive director Dwayne Steward criticised the lack of advance notice and suggested the change could complicate identity checks for some voters. He also acknowledged that a mismatched or outdated sex marker does not by itself take away a person’s right to vote. The BMV’s position is that the new procedure is necessary to comply with state law.