Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) signed a law last year that removed language clarifying that pedophiles were excluded from the definition of sexual orientation.

Walz was tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on Tuesday, prompting scrutiny of his progressive record on LGBT and other issues.

On May 19 of last year, Walz signed the Judiciary and Public Safety bill, which included the Take Pride Act, which had an amendment that updated the definition of “sexual orientation.”

Tim Walz at his signing of legislation to make Minnesota a sanctuary for children who want transgender medical interventions last year pic.twitter.com/mZMyt1VoGI

— Mairead Elordi (@JohnsonHildy) August 6, 2024

Previously, Minnesota law had taken pains to explicitly exclude pedophiles from the definition of sexual orientation, making it clear that pedophiles are not part of the same protected category as gay people, for example.

“‘Sexual orientation’ does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult,” read the old version of the law.

That sentence was struck in the new version of the law that Walz signed.

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Minnesota law now simply defines “sexual orientation” as “to whom someone is, or is perceived of as being, emotionally, physically, or sexually attracted to based on sex or gender identity. A person may be attracted to men, women, both, neither, or to people who are genderqueer, androgynous, or have other gender identities.”

The Take Pride Act also added a definition of gender identity to Minnesota law, defining it as “a person’s inherent sense of being a man, woman, both, or neither” that “may or may not correspond to their assigned sex at birth or to their primary or secondary sex characteristics” and is “not necessarily visible to others.”

The bill removes “outdated language that wrongly prejudices LGBTQIA+ community members by attempting to tie sexual orientation to criminal acts,” the Minnesota Department of Human Rights said.

State Representative Leigh Finke (D), a trans-identifying man representing the Twin Cities, was behind the amendment that eliminated the language about pedophiles.

During a committee hearing on the bill, Finke, who took office last year, said his amendment “modernizes our Human Rights Act.”

“It’s important that we continue to evolve our laws and our understanding of what it means to be a full and authentic human,” Finke said. “We do this throughout history, throughout time, and this is a great moment for us to expand what it means to be a person and to protect all of us. That’s what my bill does.”

Sporting half-dyed blue hair and a rainbow dress, Finke was also photographed with his arm around Walz when the governor signed a different law that doubled down on legal transgender medical interventions for children like hormone treatments and surgeries.

Walz also signed legislation allowing Minnesota to seize custody of a child whose parents refuse to provide “gender affirming care” and banned “conversion therapy,” a vague term often used to dismiss talk therapy wherein mental health professionals help make children comfortable with their biological sex, rather than shunting them towards transgender surgeries and hormone treatments.

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Virginia this week removed more than 6,300 non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls as part of election security measures spearheaded by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

On Wednesday, Youngkin signed an executive order instructing the Department of Elections to remove “non-citizens who may have purposefully or accidentally registered to vote.” Pursuant to the order, the state also identified and removed from voter rolls 79,867 deceased voters, and identified registered voters who had moved out of state.

“The Virginia model for Election Security works. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines.”

Virginia does not require voters to present identification at the polls, which allows unregistered voters to impersonate deceased individuals or others on the voter rolls.

Youngkin’s executive order notes that it is essential for different agencies’ jurisdictions to work together to ensure clean elections. Virginia identified non-citizens using information submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles cross-referenced with Department of Homeland Security and Social Security information. Virginia entered into comprehensive data-sharing agreements with seven states and, has received data from 42 states.

Other states could have a harder time purging non-citizens from voter rolls, however, because “Virginia is one of only three states in the nation that require those registering to vote to provide their full 9-digit social security number.”

Youngkin’s efforts to secure elections come after the Democrat-controlled legislature created extended early voting periods and mail-in voting. Youngkin said drop boxes are “under 24/7 monitoring,” but still called for “strengthening state and federal law.”

His executive order said that absentee ballots must only be mailed when requested by a voter, and that returned absentee ballots cannot be counted unless “the last four digits of a voter’s social security number and year of birth provided on the envelope are matched to the voter’s record in the statewide voter registration system.”

The order also requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to generate a daily file of non-citizen transactions, and instructs local registrars to notify county prosecutors when they become aware of an illegal immigrant’s attempt to register to vote. The order made clear that Virginia’s Attorney General “has full authority to enforce election laws,” and that the state will use only paper ballots going forward.

“In Virginia, we don’t play games, and our model for election security is working,” Youngkin said.