University of Minnesota Medical School Develops Taxpayer-Funded 'Transgender' Dolls for Preschoolers

Quinn Delamater : Jul 28, 2026
The Washington Stand

"...Stoking prurient interest in prepubescent preschoolers is not a goal of education. Encouraging young children to play with a doll's genitalia is nothing more than grooming." -Joshua Arnold, senior writer at The Washington Stand

[WashingtonStand.com] At the age of four, children believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. Kids are often consumed by imagination, and don't always discern make-believe from reality. The University of Minnesota Medical School has decided to take advantage of this, reasoning that it's appropriate to give students this age "transgender" dolls with detachable genitals to teach them that gender can be anything you feel—according to MyGender Dolls. (Image: Pexels)

MyGender Dolls, a project created by the University of Minnesota Medical School's Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health and funded by Governor Tim Walz (D) exists to "support trans and gender diverse children in clinical and educational settings," according to its website. Some Minnesota schools will buy the dolls with taxpayer money to put in classrooms as early as this fall, reported the New York Post.

In 2023, Walz won the institution's first ever "Distinguished Sexual and Gender Health Champion Award," an accolade that he continues to live up to with his LGBT activism.

"Instead of treating human bodies as a good and sacred gift from God, transgender ideology suggests they are nothing more than inanimate raw material to be modified and reshaped at will," commented Joshua Arnold, senior writer at The Washington Stand.

The dolls are geared toward children between ages 4-10 and will have "gender neutral names" including "Sam," "Rory," "Avery" and "Parker," and over 100 interchangeable clothing pieces, hairstyles, and accessories, to represent the "fluidity" of gender.

"God created every human being inHisimage as male or female," Arnold said, referencing Genesis 1:27. "God also created every human being as a unity of body and spirit," he continued, drawing from Genesis 2:7. "As living organisms, human bodies grow and develop according to the unique genetic code written within every cell—as God created them. Human artifice and craftsmanship cannot rewrite God's good design, only mutilate it."

While prototypes of the dolls were shown in 2024, the University of Minnesota has spent over six years on the project, receiving over $15 million in funding annually. While it is not clear how much of that went directly to the institute devoted to promoting gender confusion, a 2025 report disclosed it has a $1.4 million budget in annual research funds. 

The New York Post reported that some of the research during the six years "included paying $20 to $60 for ‘trans and gender diverse' children and their parents to play with the dolls and ‘talk about gender and bodies' in groups."

The initiative has evolved into a venture led by Medical School Associate Professor Nic Rider and Associate Professor Dianne Berg. Berg is reportedly a member of Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers, an organization dedicated to preventing sexual abuse. In the past, public officials have spoken out against the transgender movement targeting children, calling it a form of abuse. 

"Children's dolls are not living organisms. They have no genetic code, no potential for growth, and only the barest similarities to human beings. They are children's playthings, designed to stimulate and foster the innate, God-given desire to care for others," Arnold explained. "Therefore, children's dolls should not have sexual organs because that is inappropriate for children's play. Stoking prurient interest in prepubescent preschoolers is not a goal of education. Encouraging young children to play with a doll's genitalia is nothing more than grooming.

Quentin Van Meter, a doctor from the American College of Pediatricians, told The College Fix that research shows that children will "recognize their biological sex by age three," but aren't able to "understand the immutability of sexes" until age seven.

"Instilling this ideology in doll form is clever propaganda," Arnold emphasized. "It makes the idea more plausible: dolls are, in fact, inanimate in a way that humans are not." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Quinn Delamater is a reporter for The Washington Stand.