Quick Hit:

Newly minted vice presidential candidate Tim Walz is facing renewed scrutiny for signing a 2023 bill that redefined "sexual orientation" in Minnesota's Human Rights Act, to include pedophilia. 

Key Details:

• In March 2023, Tim Walz signed the "Take Pride Act," which controversially redefined "sexual orientation" in Minnesota's Human Rights Act, removing explicit language that excluded pedophilia from the definition.

• The amendment, introduced by Leigh Finke, a transgender-identifying legislator, passed through multiple revisions before being signed into law by Walz. Critics argue that this change could inadvertently provide legal protections to pedophiles.

• Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators have expressed outrage, claiming the bill undermines parental rights and endangers children by potentially providing legal protections to pedophiles.

Diving Deeper:

Tim Walz's recent selection as Kamala Harris’s running mate has brought renewed attention to a highly controversial bill he signed in March 2023. This legislation, known as the "Take Pride Act," redefined "sexual orientation" in Minnesota's Human Rights Act to include pedophiles by removing explicit language that excluded "a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult" from the definition of sexual orientation​.

According to a Twitter thread by user @xxclusionary, Leigh Finke introduced H. F. No. 1655 on February 13th, 2023, which redefined "sexual orientation" by removing the section that explicitly excluded pedophilia. The bill passed through multiple revisions, and in every revision, the exclusion of pedophiles remained crossed out. This amendment was ultimately included in the "Take Pride Act," which was signed into law by Tim Walz. @xxclusionary emphasized that this change reflects a dangerous shift in legal protections and could lead to pedophilia being protected under the guise of sexual orientation​. 

Finke characterized the amendment as "modernizing" the terminology to reflect supposedly contemporary understandings of sexual orientation and gender, while Republican lawmakers, including GOP House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, have described the decision to strike this language as "disturbing and inexplicable."

This controversy is compounded by Walz's other progressive policies, such as signing bills to guarantee health insurance coverage for gender transition procedures and issuing executive orders to protect individuals seeking gender-affirming care from out-of-state legal actions. These actions, while applauded by LGBTQ+ advocates, have been heavily criticized by conservatives as excessively liberal and out of touch with mainstream American values​.