Claim:
As Minnesota governor, Tim Walz signed a law making it illegal for people to discriminate against pedophiles.
Rating:
False ( About this rating? )
Context:
The bill in question was an amendment to the state's civil rights law that edited the definition of "sexual orientation" to remove the inclusion of identities "not traditionally associated with one’s biological male or female traits." Several legal scholars noted that the law did not protect pedophiles from discrimination.
On Aug. 6, 2024, RNC Research , an account operated by the Republican National Committee, posted a claim to X alleging that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris' vice-presidential running mate, signed a bill into law that specifically protected ped*ph*les from discrimination. The claim quickly spread , and it was picked up by conservative news outlets like the Daily Wire .
The claim was not new. The piece of legislation in question, H.F. 1655 , was an amendment to a larger bill called the Take Pride Act , which enshrined the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals in Minnesota's human rights law. It was passed in May 2023 and was criticized then on the same grounds.
However, when Snopes researched the amendment by using publicly available documentation from the Minnesota state legislature, we discovered that the claim was false. The bill was real, and Walz did sign it into law, but it did not protect ped*ph*les from discrimination. When the claim was shared on X, the context that would have made this clear was omitted.
What the Bill Actually Did
The Take Pride Act included provisions that outlawed discriminating against people based on "gender identity" and "sexual orientation." In order for the law to be enforceable, the bill's authors included definitions of those two terms. For the purposes of this claim, only the definition of "sexual orientation" is relevant. This is how that definition read when Walz signed the Take Pride Act into law in May 2023:
Subd. 44. Sexual orientation.
"Sexual orientation" means to whom someone is, or is perceived of as being, emotionally, physically, or sexually attracted to based on sex or gender identity. A person may be attracted to men, women, both, neither, or to people who are genderqueer, androgynous, or have other gender identities.
However, it took the state legislature time to create this definition, and the exact wording of the definition was edited significantly from its original text. Take, for instance, this previous version (emphasis ours):
Subd. 44. Sexual orientation.
"Sexual orientation" means having or being perceived as having an emotional, physical, or sexual attachment to another person without regard to the sex of that person or having or being perceived as having an orientation for such attachment , or having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one's biological maleness or femaleness. "Sexual orientation" does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult .
The bill that the RNCResearch X account and other conservative commentators referred to was written by Rep. Leigh Finke , the first transgender person elected to the Minnesota Legislature. Finke's amendment changed the definition of sexual orientation to the following:
Subd. 44. Sexual orientation.
"Sexual orientation" means having or being perceived as having an emotional, physical, or sexual attachment to another person without regard to the sex of that person or having or being perceived as having an orientation for such attachment.
Finke's amendment removed the last half of the definition, which included the line referring to "a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult."
Sexual orientation is defined based on people's attachment to people dependent on the sex of that person, not the age of that person. As such, the line about "a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult" was irrelevant to the definition.
The Minnesota House Research Department created a summary of the amendment that concisely explained this point. That summary said the amendment "removes language from the existing definition of 'sexual orientation' that included having or being perceived as having an identity not traditionally associated with one's biological male or female traits."
No Protection for Ped*ph*les
In a previous fact-check on the same topic from PolitiFact , published in May 2023 when Walz signed the Take Pride Act, legal experts confirmed that the law would not protect ped*ph*les from discrimination in any way.
"No court in the country has or would ever say that a law protecting people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation extends to protecting pedophilia," Brian Soucek, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, told PolitiFact.
Essentially, while the amendment in question removed a reference to "a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult," it did so in order to remove unnecessary text. Walz did sign the Take Pride Act into law, but had nothing to do with protecting ped*ph*les.
Sources:
"About." LEIGH for 66a, https://www.leighformn.com/about . Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
Davis, Mary. Minnesota Human Rights Act; Sexual Orientation Discrimination. Bill Summary, H.F. 1655, Minnesota House Research Department, 8 Mar. 2023, https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/bs/93/HF1655.pdf .
HF 1655 as Introduced - 93rd Legislature (2023 - 2024). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF1655&version=0&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0 . Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
Sec. 363A.03 MN Statutes. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/363A.03 . Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
"The Judiciary and Public Safety Bill Advances Civil Rights." MN Department of Human Rights, https://mn.gov/mdhr/news-community/newsroom/civilrightsupdates.jsp?id=1061-579395 .
Tim Walz Signed Bill Stripping Anti-Pedophile Language From Minnesota's Human Rights Act. 7 Aug. 2024, https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-walz-signed-bill-stripping-anti-pedophile-language-from-minnesotas-human-rights-act .
Tuquero, Loreben. "Minnesota Bill Won't Shield Child Sex Offenders." @politifact, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/may/03/tweets/minnesota-bill-does-not-create-a-protected-class-f/ . Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
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