Fact check: JD Vance falsely claims Tim Walz signed bill to let Minnesota ‘kidnap kids’ and ‘trans them’

Author: Erin Reed

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, JD Vance claimed that Minnesota Governor and Harris VP running mate Tim Walz signed a bill allowing the state to kidnap a transgender child if their parents did not approve of their transition. However, the bill Vance referenced actually provides refuge for transgender youth and their parents fleeing unsafe states where their care is criminalized. The legislation contains no provision allowing the state to “kidnap” children when their parents do not support their gender transition. These claims arise from an intentional misinterpretation of a provision that specifically applies to custody disputes between parents in different states.False claim that the state can “trans your kids” from American Principles Project Terry SchillingYou can see Schilling’s claim and the context here:What Vance, Schilling, and others fail to mention is that the provision in question applies to Section 518D of Minnesota law, known as the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. This act, adopted by most states in the U.S., addresses disputes between divorced parents when one parent lives in or moves to a different state, or when multiple states have competing claims to jurisdiction over custody cases. The specific provision highlighted by Schilling and referred to by Trump and Vance states that the state can take “temporary emergency jurisdiction.” This does not equate to taking custody of the child; rather, it allows a judge to hear a case in a custody dispute where one parent resides in a state that criminalizes trans care and the other in a state where such care is legal. Notably, it does not even tell the judge who should be awarded custody, it merely allows a court in Minnesota to hear such a custody dispute.Florida SB254

Most importantly, the claim that Walz supports the state “kidnapping children” from their parents to “trans” them is absolutely false. Walz signed a bill making the state a refuge for transgender people fleeing states that criminalize their care. The bill not only responds to states like Texas and Florida, which have indeed threatened to remove transgender kids from supportive parents, but also to cases where attorneys general attempted to subpoena medical records across state lines, such as when Attorney General Ken Paxton sought medical records from Seattle Children’s Hospital; a similar law protected transgender youth who received care there. Similar protections have also since been extended to abortion patients and providers, who face nearly identical issues.

When Trump and Vance make false claims about a “transgender kidnapping bill,” they are deliberately distorting the truth about what these bills actually do and why they are necessary. As transgender youth face increasing threats in nearly half of the states across the U.S., these refuge laws are seen as crucial for protecting vulnerable children and their families from hostile states that target their care from across state lines.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Erin Reed