Minnesota Nice- And Now For Some Good News From The Transgender Front Lines
Courtesy of my native state, whose governor decided that Minnesota won't be a battleground when it comes to transgender rights
It sometimes seems as if life sucks salty chocolate donkey balls these days if you’re not a White Conservative Christian heterosexual. If you’re LGBTQ, the American Taliban wants you to know that you’re “less than,” and every red state is passing legislation intended to make your life as miserable as possible. If you’re transgender…well, they’d happily wipe you off the face of the Earth.
Yeah, it sucks, and while I can apologize for my fellow humanoids, that’s on them. I’m doing what I can to encourage a “live and let live” vibe. I have friends, coworkers, and acquaintances who call every flavor of the rainbow home. And you know what? I don’t much care. Whatever gets them through the night is OK by me.
Besides, who am I to cast aspersions? I have my own life to sort out. And I live by my own rules; they have the right to do the same with theirs. How they do that and who they do it with is none of my damned business. All I care about is that they’re happy.
Sadly, too many folks are willing to take a s**t on those who don’t measure up to their personal moral standards. Yeah, as if they have the right to pass judgment on others.
I devote a lot of time, column inches, and brain cells lamenting that many just plain mean people out there believe it’s their right to oppress those who don’t live by their rules. Well, this isn’t one of those times, because today I’m here to celebrate my native state of Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz (D) has made it clear via an executive order that transgender people are welcome and valued on the Frozen Tundra. I couldn’t be prouder to be from Minnesota.
In a huge move to protect its residents — and future residents — from the wave of rightwing laws criminalizing healthcare and other rights for transgender people, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz this week signed an executive order to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Minnesota. As independent journalist Erin Reed explains, once the order is fully in effect, Minnesota will rank with California and the District of Columbia among "the safest states in the U.S. for transgender individuals in terms of state policy and legislation." As executive orders protecting LGBTQ+ rights go, you could even call it "sweeping."
Noting that other states have been taking steps not just to criminalize gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth, but that some, like Texas, are even trying to penalize parents of trans kids or to take children away from trans parents, Walz's order explicitly calls for Minnesota to be a "refuge for those who seek and provide gender affirming healthcare services."
Among the protections the order will ensure, it instructs all state agencies to coordinate efforts to protect people seeking gender-affirming care. That includes prohibitions on cooperating with other states' attempts to investigate trans people, their families, or their medical providers, as well as a ban on state agencies cooperating with other states' subpoenas for information on gender-affirming care.
Minnesota will also not enforce any judgments from other states that terminate parental rights because of providing gender-affirming care, which is huge in keeping families of trans kids with supportive parents. Walz himself also pledged to "exercise his discretion to refuse requests for the arrest or surrender of people charged with violation of the law in another state due to gender-affirming care."
In what amounts to a double middle-finger salute to red states and their Panzer offensive against transgender rights, Walz’s order also expands guarantees for Minnesotas seeking gender-affirming care in several ways:
Health insurance companies can no longer deny transgender care.
State agencies must require modern standards of care.
[T]hings like facial feminization surgery, hair removal, prosthetics, and more are considered medically necessary and supported by evidence in the modern standards of care spelled out in WPATH 8. (Not that I have a clue what that is, but I’m going to assume it’s a good thing)
State agencies must investigate any denial of service by an insurance company.
State agencies will be prohibited from contracting with agencies with a history of discriminatory denials.
User manuals for Medicaid must be updated to ensure the program and providers comply with modern standards of care.
In addition, school districts won’t be able to pass rules mandating which restrooms or locker rooms trans students must use. Instead, they’ll have to focus on their primary mission- education.
Imagine that. No self-righteous parents screaming at school board meetings that they don’t want their little Mary using the same restroom with “biological males.” Right, because there are so many of them in South Succotash, MN, pop. 243.
This is a comprehensive and sweeping executive order, because Walz was determined that Minnesota won’t become known for the divisive anti-trans hatred that has plagued so many red states.
It’s not that Minnesota doesn’t have a sizeable Conservative population. But, outside of the Twin Cities, where most of the population lives, most of the rest of the state went for The Former Guy in 2016 and 2020. Unsurprisingly, Walz’s executive order won’t be universally hailed outside Hennepin and Ramsey counties, home to Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Still, I’m proud that my native state will follow a different path for at least the foreseeable future. That’s a BFD.
Beyond healthcare, Walz's order bans discrimination in healthcare companies and educational institutions statewide, giving the state's department of human rights the power to investigate such discrimination. Hell of a big move toward prohibiting school districts from restricting trans students from restrooms or locker rooms matching their gender identity.
School districts won’t be allowed to get caught up in the Sturm und Drang over who gets to use which restroom or locker rooms. That’s a divisive debate that accomplishes nothing except angering adults and embarrassing students. This way, politics and morality can be kept well away from the work of education.
For at least a little while.
But there’s more work to be done.
Of course, one of the problems with executive orders is that they can be undone with a change of administration, so Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, who's trans herself, has introduced a bill that would enact similar protections in state law; so far, it's made it through committee. Now that Minnesota has Democratic majorities in both houses of the state Legislature, it seems like a good bet it'll pass and be signed by Walz.
So that's now two states and the District of Columbia that will serve as sanctuaries for people fleeing the new oppressive laws red states are busily passing. Sounds like a call for a lot more blue states to expand their own protections for trans people and their families, too. We don't need a national divorce, but as long as bigots are passing these laws — and we have little reason to think the Supreme Court will stop them — there need to be as many sanctuaries as possible. Let's hope it never comes to a need for an actual "underground railroad," but being ready can't hurt.
It would be nice to think that, at some point, rational adults would take over and focus on things that matter. But we all know that’s not likely to happen any time soon- not as long as there are people willing to weaponize genitalia and bathrooms for their political benefit.
So until we can find a way to put the ninnies out to pasture, we’ll have to hope for more courageous politicians like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. But, unfortunately, he’ll almost certainly be pilloried (if it’s not already happening) for deciding that Minnesota won’t be the next hate-fueled battleground over transgender rights.
Yeah, it’s called “Minnesota Nice” for a reason. It’s nice to see Gov. Walz enforcing it.
I’m jealous!