Indianapolis, Indiana - Indiana state lawmakers have introduced new extreme anti-LGBTQ+ legislation taking aim at transgender people and gay marriage.

Indiana Republicans are starting the new year by ramping up attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.

House Bill 1291, introduced on Tuesday, updates portions of the Indiana Code to replace references to "gender" with "biological sex," effectively ending recognition of transgender people.

The definition of gay marriage is also amended to read: "Only a female may marry a male. Only a male may marry a female."

Joke of the Day Joke of the Night for November 19, 2024: The best jokes to laugh the day away

"A marriage between persons of the same biological sex is void in Indiana even if the marriage is lawful in the place where it is solemnized," it adds.

Gay marriages have been recognized in Indiana since 2014.

Indiana's proposed new measure has already gained four co-sponsors: state Representatives Christopher Judy, Joanna King, Michelle Davis, and Robert Morris, all of whom are Republicans.

The Hoosier State is one of many Republican-led states taking steps to erode the hard-fought civil rights and liberties of LGBTQ+ people.

Recently, Indiana lawmakers passed bills banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth, gender-affirming surgeries in prisons, instruction of LGBTQ+ topics in pre-K through third grade, and LGBTQ+-related reading materials in school libraries, while requiring schools to notify parents if their child asks to be called by a different name or pronoun.

Legislators also passed another law prohibiting bans on "conversion therapy," in which counselors try to change LGBTQ+ people's gender identities and sexual orientations.