Donald Trump Falsely Claims Six States Force Gender-Affirming Surgeries on Children in Arizona Speech
Anti-trans Republicans have repeated the bizarre claim before that schools can somehow surgically transition students.
Late last week, President Donald Trump claimed that in six states, schools can force school children to undergo gender-affirming care.
That is not true. No state does that or can do that.
In a recent Arizona speech, Trump said that in Minnesota, children are taken by schools, which then “mutilate” them.
“Mutilate your children. They want to mutilate, cut your children,” Trump said at a rally in support of Arizona’s Republican candidates ahead of the November midterms. “It’s unbelievable what they do.”
“Six states, I mean, they could do whatever they want, and they do. Your son leaves as Jimmy. And comes back home in three days as Janet,” he said. “And they don’t even ask you. Most people don’t believe that, you know, they think it’s, like, an exaggeration. It’s not. They can take your child out of school and do whatever the hell they want. These people are sick. Minnesota is one of those states that can do that.”
Trump: "They want to cut your children. It’s unbelievable what they do. Your son leaves as Jimmy and comes home in three days as Janet, and they don’t even ask you. They can take your child out of school and do whatever the hell they want. Minnesota is one of those states." https://t.co/jYJ7s9bbEZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 14, 2026
Again, these claims aren’t true. It’s one that Trump and many Republican lawmakers have repeatedly made in their comments against gender-affirming care.
According to LGBTQ Nation, the “six states” part was added by Trump earlier this year.
No school is allowed to take students and give them gender-affirming care.
One online user responded to Trump comments by writing, “Schools won’t even give a child a Tylenol but they want us to believe they’re giving them sex changes.”
“I finally had to retire as a so-called ‘Latin teacher’ after 40 years. It got to be too much fitting in surgeries between translating Latin, teaching grammar, history, derivatives, myths & running Latin Club. During planning I could do 2 or 3 a day instead of interrupting class,” wrote another one.
The comments specifically against Minnesota came only days after the Trump administration raided the home of Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a frequent Trump critic, accusing her of immigration fraud. Omar came to the US when she was 12 as a refugee from Somalia. The president has repeatedly pushed for his critics to be prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
