Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “took executive action to protect access to gender-affirming health care” in his state this week. Issuing an Executive Order, Walz vowed to send a “clear” message that “here in Minnesota, our LGBTQ+ neighbors will not be denied or punished for seeking life-affirming and lifesaving medical care.”
According to activist Erin Reed, that means Minnesota will “be the first state to upgrade to dark blue, safest states in my map.” (Reed’s map is below.)
This will justify upgrading Minnesota to dark blue, most protective states on the next update of this legislative risk assessment map, due to come out soon given several recent events.
— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) March 9, 2023
It will be the first state to move up a category.https://t.co/1uqvAp6bdz
“This is massive,” Reed wrote of Walz’s action. “Gov. Tim Walz has just made Minnesota a trans refugee state with an EO.”
Walz wrote in the EO that his “deeply personal decision is made with the guidance of medical professionals.”
This is massive.
— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) March 9, 2023
Gov Tim Walz has just made Minnesota a trans refugee state with an EO!
He will decline extradition requests.
He will refuse subpoenas.
No resource can be used to enforce bans.
They will be the first state to upgrade to dark blue, safest states in my map. https://t.co/SGxtOvkWSn pic.twitter.com/pqJX9vSp55
Walz, who lists himself on Twitter as “Dad, husband, teacher, coach, veteran,” headed to Florida shortly after issuing the order. In Miami, Walsh is attending the Aspen Ideas Climate Conference where the subject matter includes the geopolitics of the energy transition, the role of the fossil fuel industry in addressing the climate crisis, clean energy, reducing carbon emissions, and other current and future endeavors aimed at protecting the planet.
Governor Walz says he’ll be “joining leaders from around the world to discuss how the North Star State is leading in the fight against climate change.”
Walz — whose gubernatorial platform emphasizes affordable health care, combatting climate change, securing LGBTQ+ rights, and increasing public school education funding and opportunity — might be credibly accused of having a “Woke” agenda — of the sort being investigated this week on Capitol Hill.
But Walz still heads to Florida, which his Sunshine State counterpart, Gov. Ron DeSantis, has declared as the “place woke goes to die.” It’s an indication that the culture wars aren’t perhaps as important as the climate battle and other initiatives — and that maybe Florida and Minnesota, both on the frontlines of climate change, have more in common than is immediately evident from the headlines.
