"Men are not, and never can be, women"

The message sent to Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and the DFL couldn't have been clearer. Protesters gathered outside MCF-Shakopee made it clear when they said "men are not, and never can be, women." That quote is attributed to Kerri Bruss, one of the co-organizers of the event. Bruss also is quoted as saying "There are areas of life where the physical and biological differences between the two sexes must be recognized and respected to assure the safety, privacy, and dignity of women and girls, with sex-segregated prisons topping that list."

Men who identify as women shouldn't be allowed in women spaces. End of sentence. Full stop. I don't care if biological males identify as the cow that jumped over the moon. XY = Male. Full stop. Every DFL legislator voted to make Minnesota a trans refuge state. Tim Walz signed that bill into law. It's time the party that told us to "follow the science" during the pandemic is allergic to science with transgender issues. This is one of the speakers at Sunday's protest:

Politics make for strange bedfellows indeed. I didn't think I'd see the day when the Minnesota Family Council stood with women prisoners staying at Shakopee Prison. Now, I've truly seen everything.

Since 2023, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) has allowed men who claim to be women to be housed at Minnesota Correctional Facility (MCF)-Shakopee under a state policy titled “Management and Placement of Incarcerated People Who Are Transgender, Gender Diverse, Intersex, or Nonbinary."

"Forcing incarcerated women, who typically are nonviolent offenders, to share intimate spaces with these violent, predatory men is an act of cruelty that amounts to state-sanctioned torture and any rape that occurs under these circumstances must be understood as state-sanctioned," added Bruss, a volunteer with Women’s Declaration International USA.

The message is clear:

Organizers spent a portion of Sunday’s protest reading from letters written by women incarcerated in MCF-Shakopee.

"This message is directed at Gov. Tim Walz. After allowing men in our safe spaces where we are sent for rehabilitation, you have created an unsafe environment for us. In fact, you created more trauma, more loss of security and our right to be simply safe," said one of the letters.

It's time for Gov. Walz to admit that the trans-refuge bill is the biggest mistake of his gubernatorial administration.