AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Minnesota Star-Tribune journalist Jill Burcum criticized conservative radio presenter Megyn Kelly’s claim that the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz “Fourth-graders forced to have tampons in school bathrooms” after their reporting debunked that story.
Partisan critics of Walz, who was recently named the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ Debates centered around a new Minnesota law he signed that requires public schools to “provide female students with access to menstrual products at no cost.” As the law was being drafted, some Minnesota Republicans tried to limit the initiative to women’s and gender-neutral restrooms, but failed. Even the author of the amendment eventually supported the final bill, citing family members who felt it was important to support it.
However, conservatives and the Trump campaign team are using the measure to attack Walz as “dangerously liberal” and “radical” on transgender issues. They claim that the governor wanted to provide menstrual products in the bathrooms of boys’ schools.
In particular, the comprehensive and inclusive wording of the law does not specify how or where these products should be made available.
Kelly repeated the attack in an online dispute with journalists Ryan Grima repetition of the MAGA nickname “Tampon Tim,” first coined by a former Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
Burcum, an editorial board member at the newspaper, hit back, suggesting Kelly do “some journalism” before commenting. He gave her a link to an editorial board article that, among other things, gave the former Fox News anchor a “reality check on the Tampon Tim meme.”
The editorial’s vigorous defense of the law and its real-world application reads:
One specific but ill-informed attack on Minnesota’s new law needs a serious reality check. Critics falsely claim it mandates menstrual products in boys’ restrooms. This has unfortunately been used to fuel ongoing culture wars about transgender people.
The committee defended the law, praising it as “intelligent” and “compassionate.”
Social media users were also quick to pick sides, and as usual, facts and context were lacking, especially among those who see the new law as evidence of a radical Minnesota under Walz’s leadership. But a closer, more informed look at the issue should lead to a different conclusion. This is good and necessary policy. Providing free menstrual products is a practical, compassionate way to address an under-the-radar reason students are absent from school. Some families cannot afford menstrual products, and when that happens, students stay home instead of going to class, falling behind.
The article further quoted Burcum’s reporting:
In Anoka-Hennepin, the state’s largest school district, the free products are not found in traditional men’s restrooms, a spokesperson said. But they are provided free of charge to everyone in “gender-neutral restrooms,” girls’ restrooms or by health workers.
The committee sharply accused conservatives of using the measure as a weapon to attack Walz and warned that the move could backfire and impact women.
Minnesota’s new law is not radical. Rather, it is a smart and cost-effective measure to close the achievement gap in education that many states already use. Weaponizing this measure is ridiculously out of touch with reality and is likely to backfire not only on women, but on everyone who cares about them.
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