During an interview with Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul on Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) discussed the state’s lawsuit over the Trump administration’s attempts to keep biological men from competing in women’s sports and stated that “the Trump administration is literally making a massive deal out of a very small number of children who are trying to play sports.” And also that “we cannot compromise on people’s basic human rights.” Ellison also stated that “we are talking about kids as young as 5 and 6 years old. We’re talking about kids 11, 12. People want to emphasize some 18, 19-year-old kid or somebody else. No, we’re talking about junior high and lower kids, often.”
Ellison said, “[W]e’re always open to a conversation, but we cannot compromise on people’s basic human rights. That we cannot compromise on. As long as the Trump administration is willing to work something out that protects the rights of Minnesota kids, yeah, we’re open to a dialogue.”
He added, “[W]e are talking about a very small number of people. I’m not sure we even have more than ten. I think we probably have about that or maybe even fewer. And then when you divide them into trans boys or trans girls, you’re even talking about a smaller number, still. So, I think that it is important to understand that our society and the Trump administration is literally making a massive deal out of a very small number of children who are trying to play sports. … And we are talking about kids as young as 5 and 6 years old. We’re talking about kids 11, 12. People want to emphasize some 18, 19-year-old kid or somebody else. No, we’re talking about junior high and lower kids, often. And so, I ask kids keep — I ask people to keep that in mind too.”
Later, in response to a question on public opinion on trans athletes, Ellison said that he is following the law and “do we really want people’s constitutional rights to be a matter of polling, right? I guarantee you that, in 1961, if you were to do a poll on whether or not we should get rid of Jim Crow, that poll might not have [come] out the way we would have hoped it would in 2025. And I can tell you that, when Martin Luther King died, he was actually pretty unpopular.”
Ellison further stated that if he could talk to President Trump, “I’d try to help him understand that transgender folks have some of the highest incidents of depression, anxiety, and even suicide, are often bullied, are often beat up. And being a part of youth sports is something that helps give them some sense of belonging and a sense of confidence.”
Ellison also said that he hasn’t seen any proof from the Trump administration of women’s rights being violated, but “I can prove the number of transgender people who have been attacked, who’ve been even murdered and killed and people…who suffer great mental and emotional peril because of their exclusion and isolation in our society.”
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