Donald Trump lies to crowd: Tim Walz let the state “kidnap children to change their gender”

Republicans have been falsely claiming that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) supports state-sanctioned kidnapping of kids from their homes if their parents don’t provide them gender-affirming care. It’s a lie.

Former President Donald Trump recently said at a rally, “Do we have any children here? Please close your ears. He ordered tampons in boys’ bathrooms. Okay. He signed a law letting the state kidnap children to change their gender.”

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Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), echoed what Trump said in an interview with Jon Karl of ABC’s This Week.

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“What President Trump said… is that Tim Walz has supported taking children from their parents if their parents don’t consent to gender reassignment. That is crazy,” Vance said. Vance further clarified that he would “describe this as kidnapping.”

The claim that Walz ordered tampons in boys’ bathrooms is only partly true, as determined by an LGBTQ Nation fact check earlier this week. As for the claim that Walz signed a law letting the state kidnap children, this is not true.

What’s being referred to here is H.F. 146, a bill that Walz signed into law in late April 2023. This law does not take trans children out of the homes of non-supportive families. Rather, it renders out-of-state subpoenas unenforceable if the subpoena relates to gender-affirming care accessed in Minnesota.

Additionally, the law prohibits any legal charges or extradition of trans youth who receive legal gender-affirming care in Minnesota. The law applies to court orders mandating that children be removed from their homes for accessing gender-affirming care out of their home state, effectively reducing the number of children who can be removed from their parent’s homes.

In fact, H.F. 146 says that “a law of another state that authorizes a state agency to remove a child from the child’s parent or guardian because the parent or guardian allowed the child to receive gender-affirming health care… is against the public policy of this state and must not be enforced” and that “a court order for the removal of a child issued in another state because the child’s parent or guardian assisted the child in receiving gender-affirming care in this state must not be enforced in this state.”

The most the law could do regarding where children live is in the case of a custody dispute. A Minnesota judge could take into consideration, as one of many factors, whether a parent supports or rejects gender-affirming care for their child. But custody decisions are not referred to as “kidnapping.”

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