Tim Walz Signed Bill Stripping Anti-Pedophile Language From Minnesota’s Human Rights Act

 Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) signed a law last year that removed language clarifying that pedophiles were excluded from the definition of sexual orientation.

Walz was tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on Tuesday, prompting scrutiny of his progressive record on LGBT and other issues.

On May 19 of last year, Walz signed the Judiciary and Public Safety bill, which included the Take Pride Act, which had an amendment that updated the definition of “sexual orientation.”

Tim Walz at his signing of legislation to make Minnesota a sanctuary for children who want transgender medical interventions last year pic.twitter.com/mZMyt1VoGI

— Mairead Elordi (@JohnsonHildy) August 6, 2024

Previously, Minnesota law had taken pains to explicitly exclude pedophiles from the definition of sexual orientation, making it clear that pedophiles are not part of the same protected category as gay people, for example.

“‘Sexual orientation’ does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult,” read the old version of the law.

That sentence was struck in the new version of the law that Walz signed.

 

Minnesota law now simply defines “sexual orientation” as “to whom someone is, or is perceived of as being, emotionally, physically, or sexually attracted to based on sex or gender identity. A person may be attracted to men, women, both, neither, or to people who are genderqueer, androgynous, or have other gender identities.”

The Take Pride Act also added a definition of gender identity to Minnesota law, defining it as “a person’s inherent sense of being a man, woman, both, or neither” that “may or may not correspond to their assigned sex at birth or to their primary or secondary sex characteristics” and is “not necessarily visible to others.”

The bill removes “outdated language that wrongly prejudices LGBTQIA+ community members by attempting to tie sexual orientation to criminal acts,” the Minnesota Department of Human Rights said.

State Representative Leigh Finke (D), a trans-identifying man representing the Twin Cities, was behind the amendment that eliminated the language about pedophiles.

During a committee hearing on the bill, Finke, who took office last year, said his amendment “modernizes our Human Rights Act.”

“It’s important that we continue to evolve our laws and our understanding of what it means to be a full and authentic human,” Finke said. “We do this throughout history, throughout time, and this is a great moment for us to expand what it means to be a person and to protect all of us. That’s what my bill does.”

Sporting half-dyed blue hair and a rainbow dress, Finke was also photographed with his arm around Walz when the governor signed a different law that doubled down on legal transgender medical interventions for children like hormone treatments and surgeries.

Walz also signed legislation allowing Minnesota to seize custody of a child whose parents refuse to provide “gender affirming care” and banned “conversion therapy,” a vague term often used to dismiss talk therapy wherein mental health professionals help make children comfortable with their biological sex, rather than shunting them towards transgender surgeries and hormone treatments.