Order Directs State Agencies to Protect Access to Affirming Health Care
WASHINGTON, DC – While state legislatures around the country are waging an attack to erase transgender members of their communities, Minnesota is taking a stand as a welcoming, supportive state.
Gov. Tim Walz signed Orden ejecutiva 23-03 that positions Minnesota as a refuge state for transgender people who flee other states seeking lifesaving transition-related care.
“Minnesota’s leadership matters to transgender people across the country. It’s a reminder that there are many, many places where we are welcomed and embraced as full members of the community,” said Leroy Thomas (he/they), communications director for the National Center for Transgender Equality. “The reality is that trans people of all ages are leading joyous, full, normal lives. Transition-related care helps make those lives possible. Everyone deserves the freedom to explore and express their identity – and that includes, receiving compassionate, transition-related care.”
In addition to the executive order, which was signed by Walz on March 8, the state’s legislature is also considering a parallel bill that make Minnesota a trans refuge state. A ban on conversion therapy has also passed the Minnesota House of Representatives and is awaiting action in the Senate.
The executive order requires state agencies to protect people seeking gender-affirming health care in Minnesota, as well as the entities that provide it. State agencies are also specifically forbidden from providing information or assisting investigations to penalize trans people and their allies for seeking transition-related care.
Judgments from other states that terminate parental rights because the parent provided their child with transition-related care will not be recognized by the state of Minnesota, and the state will also refuse to comply with subpoenas that seek information about trans people who travel to Minnesota to obtain care.
“Protecting and supporting access to gender affirming health care is essential to being a welcoming and supportive state,” Walz said of the executive order.
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