AAP FACTCHECK – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has signed a law that allows the state to take children away from their parents if they do not consent to gender-affirming care, social media users claim.
That is wrong. The law that Mr Walz signed does not allow the state to take custody of children if the parents do not consent to gender reassignment care.
The claims relate to HF 146, also known as the Trans Refuge Bill.
Mr Walz, Kamala Harris's running mate in the upcoming US election, signed the bill in April 2023 as part of Minnesota's efforts to be considered a “sanctuary state” for transgender people.
“Tim Walz signed a bill that allows the state to take your children away from you if you don't agree to sterilize them and cut off their body parts in the name of 'gender-affirming care,'” he said in a Facebook post.
Numerous posts with similar, false claims are circulating on social media.
“So if your 14-year-old is sad but thinks it's due to gender confusion and you object to castration, the state will take custody.”
Another post claims the bill would allow the “state to take your children away from you if a child wants to 'change' their gender but you do not agree to 'gender-affirming care,'” adding, “This is shocking communist control where the state seeks to replace parents.”
A similar claim was made by former US President Donald Trump at a rally in Montana (31 minutes 13 seconds) that Mr Walz had signed a law “allowing the state to kidnap children in order to change their gender”.
His running mate JD Vance repeated this claim in an ABC interview.
Several experts said AAP Fact Check The allegations about the bill are false.
The bill was passed in response to 19 U.S. states signing laws that ban or severely restrict gender-affirming child care and, in some cases, criminalize access to and provision of such care.
Its supporters say the intent is to protect the right of Minnesotans and beyond to gender-equitable health care in the state.
Specifically, it gives Minnesota state courts temporary emergency jurisdiction in cases where a child comes from another state for gender-affirming care.
Gender-affirming care refers to social and medical interventions that affirm the identity of a transgender or gender diverse person. These include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, permanent hair removal, voice therapy, and surgery.
According to experts, the statement that the state is legally allowed to take children away is not true.
Courtney Joslin, a professor at the UC Davis School of Law, said the law does not empower the state to take away custody of children.
“HF 146 addresses the very technical question of which state courts have jurisdiction (that is, the authority to hear) custody cases between parents when the parents live in different states,” said Professor Joslin.
The law is “really purely procedural in nature,” she added, and essentially dictates in which state a custody dispute between parents in different states must be filed.
“It does not address in any way when state authorities can deprive a parent of custody of a child,” said Prof. Joslin.
Minnesota University legal expert Richard Painter said AAP Fact Check There is no law in Minnesota that allows the state to terminate custody of a parent because the parent does not consent to gender reassignment surgery or resists gender reassignment treatment.
Kathryn Schumaker, a lecturer at the United States Studies Centre, also said the law does not give the state the authority to take a child away from parents who oppose gender-affirming care.
“The legislation addresses a very specific scenario where a custody dispute crosses state lines and the parents and/or guardians of a child disagree about whether their child should have access to gender-affirming care,” said Dr. Schumaker.
“Should such a dispute arise and the parent opposing such care resides in a state hostile to transgender rights, Minnesota law would prevent another state from taking action to award custody to the parent from another state opposing gender-affirming care.”
AFP Fact Check and Snopes have also debunked claims about Minnesota's Transgender Refuge bill.
The verdict
INCORRECT – The claim is incorrect.
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