Taxpayer-Funded “Gender Dolls” Headed to MN Preschools

University Project Puts Gender-Diverse Dolls Under the Microscope

The University of Minnesota’s Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health has spent years developing MyGender Dolls, a set of therapeutic dolls intended for children between the ages of 4 and 10.

The dolls are designed with gender-neutral names including “Sam,” “Rory,” “Avery” and “Parker.” Reports say they include more than 100 interchangeable clothing, hairstyle and accessory combinations, along with removable internal and external genitalia.

The university and the project’s developers describe the dolls as tools intended for clinicians and educators working with transgender and gender-diverse children.

The stated purpose is to give children a way to communicate about their bodies and identities through play.

That explanation has done little to calm critics who question whether a resource involving interchangeable anatomy belongs anywhere near children as young as four.

The controversy intensified after reporting revealed that the project emerged from more than six years of research at the University of Minnesota.

According to reporting, researchers involved children and their parents in sessions involving the dolls and discussions about gender and bodies. Participants were reportedly compensated for taking part in the research.

The project is now moving toward commercialization through MyGender Dolls.

But there is an important distinction that critics and supporters alike cannot ignore: the university has said public money was not used to commercialize the dolls. Reports also indicate that the precise funding history behind the research remains a subject of scrutiny.

That distinction matters.

It does not eliminate questions about the relationship between publicly supported university research and the eventual private commercialization of a product. But it does mean claims that Walz personally directed taxpayer money toward purchasing these dolls for preschool classrooms go beyond what the available evidence establishes.

Walz’s Connection to the Institute

The governor nevertheless has a documented political relationship with the institution at the center of the controversy.

In 2023, the Eli Coleman Institute gave Walz its inaugural “Distinguished Sexual and Gender Health Champion Award.”

That recognition has now become part of the political debate surrounding the dolls.

Walz has also made Minnesota one of the nation’s most prominent states for policies protecting transgender people and access to gender-related care.

In 2023, he signed legislation that supporters described as protecting transgender people seeking care in Minnesota, while opponents argued that the state was taking an overly aggressive role in disputes involving minors and their parents.

Those disagreements have made Minnesota a national battleground in the broader fight over parental rights, transgender policy and the role of government in children’s lives.

The MyGender Dolls controversy has landed directly in the middle of that fight.

Are the Dolls Actually Going Into Preschools?

This is where the headlines have gotten ahead of the evidence.

Some reports have described the dolls as potentially reaching classrooms this fall. But the project’s own materials describe them as resources for clinicians, educators, school counselors, pediatricians and other professionals rather than a mandatory statewide classroom curriculum.

There is also no evidence establishing that Walz ordered Minnesota schools to distribute the dolls.

That distinction is critical for parents.

The real controversy is not whether every four-year-old in Minnesota is being forced to play with anatomically interchangeable dolls. The evidence does not support that sweeping claim.

The real question is whether schools or other public institutions will make these materials available to young children, under what circumstances, and what role parents will have in deciding whether their children participate.

A conservative parental-rights argument can be made without exaggeration: parents deserve clear information about controversial materials involving their young children.

The Fraud Scandal Adds Political Pressure

The timing could hardly be worse for Walz.

In June, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee released a report accusing senior Minnesota officials of knowing about serious fraud concerns for years and failing to adequately stop payments to suspicious providers.

The committee estimated that approximately $300 million in federal child-nutrition funds were lost and that as much as $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds were lost or placed at serious risk.

The investigation focused heavily on the Feeding Our Future scandal, a massive pandemic-era fraud case involving federal money intended to provide meals to children.

Federal prosecutors have charged dozens of people in connection with the scheme, and numerous defendants have been convicted.

The House report goes further, alleging that state officials received warnings about fraud and that whistleblowers faced retaliation.

Walz and his allies have disputed the Republican committee’s characterization of his administration’s conduct, arguing that Minnesota has taken steps to combat fraud and that the congressional investigation is politically motivated.

That dispute remains unresolved.

But the financial scale is impossible to ignore.

Two Controversies, One Bigger Political Question

For Minnesota conservatives, the juxtaposition is politically explosive.

On one side is a university project involving young children, gender identity and interchangeable anatomy that has become a national flashpoint.

On the other is a congressional investigation alleging that hundreds of millions of dollars intended for children’s nutrition were lost through fraud while state officials failed to respond adequately to warning signs.

Walz did not personally create the fraud schemes, and there is no evidence establishing that he personally paid for the MyGender Dolls.

But as Minnesota’s governor, he remains politically accountable for the institutions and policies operating under his administration.

That is why the latest controversy is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

Minnesota parents are being asked to trust schools, universities and state agencies with decisions involving their children and their tax dollars.

The growing demand from critics is straightforward: transparency first, accountability second, and parents—not bureaucrats—should have a central voice when controversial material is introduced to young children.

For Walz, the MyGender Dolls controversy arrives as his administration continues defending itself against one of the most damaging fraud scandals in modern Minnesota history.

The governor may be able to separate the two stories politically.

His critics certainly won’t.