On November 1st, local time, U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the Democratic Party again regarding the issue of transgender minors during a mid-term election campaign rally in DeBrick, Iowa. He claimed that some states in the United States allow schools to change the gender of children without notifying parents, and specifically mentioned traditional blue-state states like Illinois and Minnesota.
On that day, while supporting Ashley Henson, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Iowa, Trump targeted her Democratic opponent Josh Turek, accusing him of voting in favor of a policy that allows schools to change children's genders without notifying their parents.
He then gave an example: "Imagine that your beautiful son goes out and he's named Tim. 'Goodbye, Tim!'... Then you don't see Tim for four days. Four days later, Tim comes back, but he has turned into Sally. Well, that’s true."
Trump further claimed that states like Illinois and Minnesota allow such things to happen, and criticized the electoral system in Minnesota, accusing the state of having issues with vote counting.
In June this year, Xinsen accused Tourék of supporting 'changing children's genders' in his campaign ads. The ads featured scenes where surgeons performed surgeries.
However, a fact-checking website in the United States, PolitiFact, found that this claim is not true. Turek voted against an education bill passed in Iowa in 2023. One clause of the bill required schools to notify parents when students requested to use names or pronouns different from those recorded in school records, in order to confirm their gender identity. The bill did not cover transgender surgeries or other medical interventions.
PolitiFact also noted that there was another bill in Iowa during the same year that prohibited medical interventions such as gender transformation for minors. Turek did not participate in the vote on that bill. His campaign team also made it clear that Turek opposed minors receiving transgender surgery.
Trump has made similar statements on many occasions. On October 14th this year, he claimed at a rally in Arizona that a child would be “Jimmy” when they go out, but would become “Janet” when they return home. He also criticized Minnesota specifically.
