INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita believes changing genders on birth certificates should be considered falsifying records.

The Republican says the ability to change an official document in this way is an integrity issue and sets a poor precedent, but people in the queer community say having the option is important to their safety.

“I think it is extraordinarily unsafe.” Leslie Burnett said.

Burnett is a mom to kids who are a a part of the community, including a son who is transgender.

“It puts them in even more danger when they have to hand over identification that doesn’t match the gender that they’re saying they are,” Burnett said.

She is holding off on making the change to her son’s birth certificate until he’s 18.

“We didn’t want to have to go through the process when he’s under 18 and then again once he’s over 18,” Burnett said.

She may not be able to, though. Rokita recently filed motions intervening in five cases across the state where people have asked trial courts to order the Indiana Department of Health to change the sex on a birth certificate to their desired gender.

“We can’t allow people to come to court on a Tuesday because they feel like they’re a girl, when on Monday, it was clear, and on Tuesday it’s clear, that they are a man,” Rokita said in an interview with I-Team 8. “You can make chaos, really, and a mockery out of out of official government documents. We cannot have that state of Indiana. We cannot have that anywhere. In any sane country that wouldn’t be the case, so we are not going to let that happen here.”

It comes after Republican Gov. Mike Braun issued an executive order in March that was used to block the health department from allowing changes to gender markers.

Rokita says allowing this to happen is misusing the already existent “name change” statue. He also says it could inadvertently allow trial court judges in counties across Indiana to make decisions that could impact the entire state.

I-Team 8 asked Deputy Attorney General Bradley Davis, who is working on the five cases, why the office thinks it’s important to get involved here.

“These orders, ordering, for example, the Department of Health to change for certificates were done without any participation by Department of Health, or any state agency,” he said.

I-Team 8 also asked Rokita what message he has for any person in the queer community who is worried about their safety if they can’t get their birth certificate changed.

“If they really think they’re a girl, and they’re a boy, they should go get help and we want them to get help, but affirming their sickness, affirming their dysphoria, and it is a sickness, shouldn’t be what we do here,” Rokita said.

“They shouldn’t have any say,” Burnett said. “It’s unfortunate that a lot of the lawmakers that are currently in their positions don’t have the experience of someone who’s gender diverse, or someone who’s, you know, in the queer community.”

Rokita says they will take this to the highest court necessary to make sure the change sticks.

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