Minnesota’s bishops and the Minnesota Catholic Conference — the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in the state — are voicing strong concerns over a certain “gender ideology” represented in the state Legislature.

MCC is urging Minnesotans to reach out to their representatives to push against the progression of the following bills through the Legislature:

• HF16/SF23, a bill to prohibit conversion therapy and do away with aspects of counseling for minors to align mind and the reality of biological sex;
• HF146/SF63, a bill that would allow minors from Minnesota and other states to seek “gender-affirming health care” in Minnesota;
• HF173/SF37, a Minnesota Constitution amendment that would countermand attempts for accommodations or exemptions for those who do not assent to gender theory;
• HF1655/SF1886, a bill proposing a new definition in the Minnesota Human Rights Act for gender identity;
• HF2280/SF2236, a “Gender-Affirming Rights Act” which asserts a person’s right to subjectively define gender existence; and,
• HF2607/SF2209, a bill to require “gender-affirming care coverage” including for medical and surgical interventions to manipulate the body.

MCC argues these pieces of legislation cause harm and create confusion — particularly among young people — about the human experience and intrinsic identity.

In a joint written statement, MCC Executive Director Jason Adkins and MCC Policy and Public Relations Associate Maggee Hangge said the bills “seek to enshrine into law a deeply flawed and fictional account of the human person that would bring harm to vulnerable young people.”

“Many young people are struggling with confusion about their basic human experience and their identity, often caused by peer influence and cultural forces,” the joint statement reads. “Families are seeking honest help, yet pharmaceutical companies and some unscrupulous doctors are negligently funneling kids into a lifetime of surgical and hormonal treatments, which has already created a billion-dollar business. By denying the reality that we are each created male and female, we are doing irreversible damage to children and inhibiting their future ability to form families.”

Every instance of unjust discrimination must be avoided, but “we cannot allow gender ideology to grow unchecked, as ample evidence suggests that ‘gender affirming care’ not only does not resolve a person’s psychological struggles but exacerbates them,” Adkins and Hangge said.

In a video released by MCC, Bishop Robert Barron — of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester — said he and his fellow Minnesota bishops are “concerned about a gender ideology taking hold, which really stands to thwart our own anthropology, our own understanding of the human person; that we’re a hybrid of body and soul. The body is not there for the ‘real me’ to manipulate according to its desire, but it belongs to the very nature of the person. We think it does more damage to young people to encourage them along this line of gender change and gender manipulation. We’d much prefer to offer counseling and therapy to young people and help them through issues of gender dysphoria.”

Similarly, a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued in March reads, in part, “A crucial aspect of the order of nature created by God is the body-soul unity of each human person … this soul only comes into existence together with this body. What it means to be a human person necessarily includes bodiliness.”

To “show full respect for the dignity of each human person,” the USCCB states “Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedures.”

Legislators can be contacted on these issues by visiting MNCatholic.org/ActionAlerts.