Prof. June Carbone Quoted in PolitiFact About Gender-Affirming Law and Parental Custody

Professor June Carbone, Robina Chair in Law, Science and Technology, was quoted in PolitiFact regarding a statement from Sen. J.D. Vance, criticizing his vice presidential campaign opponent, Gov. Tim Walz, about signing a law that seeks to protect parents who bring their children to Minnesota for gender-affirming care. PoliticFact stated Vance’s claim mischaracterizes the reach of the Walz-approved law on parental custody and that the law would neither “take away” a parent’s custody rights, nor would it authorize the government to take custody of a child just because a parent objects to gender-affirming care. Courts won’t automatically award custody to a parent who brings a child to Minnesota for gender-affirming care, experts said. Courts will decide custody based on evidence presented about what is in a child’s best interests. Prof. Carbone said, “There’s nothing there that says the court has to decide one way or the other. It would apply the ordinary custody standards at that point.”