Tim Walz’s state became a ‘trans refuge.’ Here’s what that means and how it happened

MINNEAPOLIS — As Gov. Tim Walz prepares to debate Sen. JD Vance Tuesday night, Minnesota’s status as a “trans refuge” state will likely be in the spotlight.

“He’s very heavy into transgender, anything transgender he thinks is great,” former President Trump said on Fox the day after Walz was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. (Trump has pledged, if elected, to end gender-affirming care for youth nationally.)

In Arizona earlier this month, Vance falsely claimed the “trans refuge” law Walz signed allows the state to “take children away from their parents if their parents don’t want to do sex changes.” He added, “that is not small government, that is disgusting, and he should be ashamed of himself.”

Here’s what the “trans refuge” law in Minnesota is, how it’s working, and how involved Walz was in getting the law passed.

A Democratic trifecta

The first thing to understand about how politically purple Minnesota came to pass this law, is that in 2022, voters elected Democratic majorities in both houses of the legislature and the governorship. It was the first Democratic trifecta in a decade, and lawmakers came in with a list of priorities.

Making the state a “trans refuge” wasn’t on that list. But freshman Rep. Leigh Finke, the first transgender member of Minnesota’s state legislature, made sure it was added.

“I knew that we had to do something because the national, coordinated anti-trans wave was building steam,” Finke says. In 2023, between January and May, 15 states across the country enacted laws banning gender-affirming care for youth, including Minnesota’s neighboring states of Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“The dominoes fell in 2023,” Finke says. “The self-evident urgency became clear to the