SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Today, Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan held a signing ceremony for Executive Order 23-03, protecting the rights of Minnesota’s LGBTQIA2S+ community to seek and receive gender-affirming health care. Members of the Minnesota House Queer Caucus issued the following statement:
“We applaud Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan for prioritizing the health and safety of our trans and queer community in Minnesota. Currently, our community is under attack nationally by anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQIA2S+ legislation by extremist Republicans. The transphobic narrative plaguing right-wing media is calling for the 'eradication' of trans people. Minnesota needs to send a clear message across the nation that we will not stand by and allow people to be stripped of their dignity, suffer excruciating trauma, and live in fear due to the endless cycles of heinous violence and harm. The perpetuation of erasure will not happen here in Minnesota. We are obligated to the liberation of our communities by celebrating one another and affirming our identities. Our community members voted for 11 elected officials, who share salient identities, to serve and protect their human rights and to shield them against these targeted attacks. We must do everything in our power to protect our two spirit, non-binary, enby, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community so they can live openly without discrimination and embrace their human rights, personal autonomy, and freedom of expression and association. No one deserves to live in fear for wanting to be their authentic selves.”