Governor Signs Order Making Minnesota a ‘Sanctuary State’ for ‘Gender Transitions’

The Minnesota governor has signed an executive order making the Land of 10,000 Lakes a “sanctuary state” for so-called gender transitions.

Governor Tim Walz signed the executive order (Executive Order 23-03) on March 8, 2023, to protect the “right” of people in Minnesota to receive bodily damaging and experimental procedures like puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries to make them look more like the opposite sex.

Walz’s executive order said it “protects the rights of Minnesota’s LGBTQ community to seek and receive gender affirming health care in Minnesota.”

However, the governor’s assertion that his order applies to the “LGBTQ community” is absurd. It does not. It only applies to those who believe they are transgender, the “T” part. The Daily Citizen has previously written why there really is no unified “LGBT Community” since its supposed members disagree with each other on a myriad of issues related to what male and female are.

According to a press release from Gov. Walz’s office, the order directs state agencies to take the following actions, among others:

State agencies will coordinate to protect people or entities who are providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining gender affirming health care services.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Minnesota Department of Commerce (COMM), and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) will investigate and take administrative actions for unfair or deceptive practices related to the denial of gender affirming health care services.
MDH will prepare a report summarizing the literature on the scientific evidence about the safety and effectiveness of gender affirming health care and its public health effects.
The state will decline to help other states that try to penalize individuals and entities seeking gender affirming health care services.

“As states across the country move to ban access to gender-affirming care, we want LGBTQ Minnesotans to know they will continue to be safe, protected, and welcome in Minnesota,” said Governor Walz.

What the governor misses is that his state is moving in this direction at the very same time that many progressive European nations are moving away from providing transgender medical interventions to children.

“In Minnesota, you will not be punished for seeking or providing medical care. This Executive Order delivers the urgent action that our LGBTQ Minnesotans deserve,” the governor added.

The governor incorrectly referred to procedures like puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries as “gender affirming.” These procedures deny an individual’s biological sex and gender, they do not “affirm” them.

The governor also published the following tweet regarding the executive order:

Today, I took executive action to protect access to gender-affirming health care in Minnesota.

My message is clear: Here in Minnesota, our LGBTQ+ neighbors will not be denied or punished for seeking life-affirming and lifesaving medical care.

— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) March 8, 2023

Following Gov. Walz’s signing of the order, Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan asserted that transgender medical procedures are “lifesaving,” and that they help “keep children safe.”

These claims are incorrect.

According to Minnesota Family Council CEO John Helmberger, the governor’s order will hurt people, not help them.

Indeed, individuals who undergo transgender medical interventions like puberty blockers, opposite sex hormones and surgeries damage their bodies in irreversible ways.

In fact, the Daily Citizen just recently reported that Dr. Susan Bradley, one of the pioneers and leading experts in treating children with gender dysphoria, recently admitted that when it comes to prescribing children with puberty blockers to stop their normal adolescent development, “We were wrong.”

She stated:

They’re not as reversible as we always thought, and they have longer term effects on kids’ growth and development, including making them sterile and quite a number of things affecting their bone growth.

It is not compassionate, nor is it “lifesaving,” to treat children with harmful transgender medical interventions that will permanently alter and disfigure their body. In fact, doing so is exactly the opposite of compassionate. Indeed, it is very lucrative for pediatric gender clinics to offer these procedures to children.

Even though Minnesota’s governing establishment disagrees, all children should be protected from harmful, experimental transgender medical interventions. Hopefully someday soon, that fact will be a reality nationwide.

If you or someone you know need help dealing with the transgender issue, check out Focus on the Family’s Transgender Resources page here.

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