Parents, advocacy groups say ‘no’ to transgender dolls in Minnesota public schools

( Just the News )

The federal government recently announced an investigation into the Minnesota Department of Education's purported plan to use "transgender dolls" this fall in its public schools, following complaints from parents and education advocates. 

The U.S. Education Department announced the investigation in late July, prompted by a complaint filed with the agency's Student Privacy Policy Office by parental rights group Defending Education, after Minnesota families said the public schools intended to use the dolls.

The dolls are sold by the company MyGenderDolls.com, whose website states that the dolls facilitate a "first-of-their-kind therapeutic play approach designed for gender-diverse children ages 4–10." 

The agency's announcement says the complaint included statements from parents in which they "expressed their concern that their statutory and constitutional rights were violated as they were not notified or given the opportunity to opt their children out of an activity that used “transgender dolls” in the classroom." 

The site has a "wishlist" signup to apparently buy the dolls, but provides little information. They reportedly are paper-style dolls with swappable clothing, external genitalia and internal reproductive parts. 

“I'm appalled that the government and public school system would think that they have the right to try to indoctrinate innocent young children with their extremist agenda, especially without the knowledge or consent of parents,” Minnesota business owner and father Tom Gommels told Just the News. 

The dolls were developed through a taxpayer-funded program at the University of Minnesota, the federal agency says. 

The agency also said it launched the investigation to "ensure compliance" with the federal code, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, that "gives parents notice and opt-out rights when a school administers surveys, evaluations, or questionnaires asking students for certain sensitive, private information about students and their families."

At about the same time as the announcement was made, July 29, local news outlet 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS posted a story about having called the 19 largest school districts in the seven counties that make up the Twin Cities metro area. 

The report said seven said they had never heard of the MyGender Dolls project and none planned to use it. In addition, the Minnesota Department of Education said using the dolls wasn't a project. And University of Minnesota researchers connected to the project told the outlet the MyGender Dolls will not be in public schools this year," according to the report.

“No four-year-old should be exposed to such material – especially without a parent’s knowledge or consent,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the announcement, 

Gommel, of Rochester, Minn., doesn't have children in the state's public school system. He says he started sending them to private schools years ago and that public schools' liberal agenda was a "major factor" in the decision. 

He also said after hearing about the doll controversy that he thinks more parents will be pursuing alternative education options for their children.

A new survey from the Christensen Institute found that 60% of parents have left, or are considering leaving, their local public school, citing concerns over safety, transparency, and parental control. 

LGBTQ curriculum in public schools has been a source of division between left and right-leaning groups in recent years, coming into particular conflict with families of faith. 

In June 2025, the Supreme Court in Mahmoud V. Taylor, in which the plaintiffs were a group of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish parents – ruled that parents have the constitutional right to opt-out of LGBTQ-related curriculum that unduly burdens their religious freedom and fundamental right to direct their child’s upbringing.

Nic Dunn, vice president of the Sutherland Institute, says “schools must respect parents’ right and responsibility to direct the education of their children, including how they are taught about sexual issues in school.

The Trump administration has placed significant focus on mandatory LGBTQ and gender ideology instruction in public schools, opening at least 48 investigations into schools for alleged violations.  

“While Governor Walz and the radical left continue to funnel taxpayer dollars to perverted ideologies that can harm children, the Trump Administration is fighting to protect children’s innocence and defend parents’ role as the first and primary decision-makers in their child’s education,” McMahon said.