Gabrielle Fahmy – New York Post July 25, 2026

They’re dolling up the trans agenda — and taxpayers are footing the bill.

“First-of-their-kind” transgender dolls — complete with removable genitalia — will debut in some Minnesota classrooms this fall to kids as young as 4 years old.

The paper dolls, with gender-neutral names like “Sam,” “Rory,” “Avery” and “Parker,” have removable internal and external genitals, along with more than 100 interchangeable pieces of clothing, accessories and hairstyles — like a trans Mr./Mrs. Potato Head.

The goal is for kids to “learn about the different options that exist for who they can be,” according to a therapist at the University of Minnesota Medical School, which spent over half a decade developing the controversial project funded by lefty Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

The Medical School’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health research over those 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.

Prototypes of the dolls were shown in a 2024 conference where one named “Sam” can be seen in what appears to be some phase of a gender transition, with a detachable penis off to the side, and a dress and girls’ underwear within reach.

The trans dolls — which promise to “make gender fun” — will be made available to teachers, school counselors, pediatricians and mental health providers, according to a website of the “MyGender Dolls” company. It features an image of a boy doll wearing a dress and others in various states of sexual identity confusion.

It’s not known whether parents — or children themselves — will be able to order a doll, or if they will only be marketed to professionals and schools. It is not known if parents will be able to opt out of such “therapeutic play” for their kids.

The dolls began as a University of Minnesota research project, which was later spun into a commercial venture — “MyGender Dolls” — by two licensed psychologists who are professors at the medical school.

The website does not reveal the cost of the paper dolls.

The University of Minnesota’s Medical School has been receiving $15 million annual funding from the state via Walz — cash earmarked to “increase the medical school’s research capacity” and “ensure its national prominence.”

But the school doesn’t report how much it funnels to its Institute for Sexual and Gender Health, which has a total research budget of $1.4 million, according to its 2025 annual report.

Waltz received sex institute’s award in 2023

Walz, who’s pushed pro-transgender policies on the Midwestern state, was bestowed the institute’s inaugural “Distinguished Sexual and Gender Health Champion Award” in 2023, a title created just for him.

The scandal-plagued governor was even pictured with a wide grin alongside Medical School Associate Professor Nic Rider — co-founder of MyGender Dolls, which is bringing the radical dolls to market

Rider, a psychologist who specializes in children and teen transgender health, goes by they/them pronouns, according to a bio on the medical school’s website.

They didn’t return The Post’s request for comment. Neither did Associate Professor Dianne Berg, the other co-founder — who is a member of the Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers. But in a since deleted 2020 article in a university publication, Berg boasted about genitals being a key part of the twisted research project.

“Everyone should be learning that there’s diversity in gender identity and that what makes you real is not what your body parts are, but how you think and feel,” she told the university’s Discovery Magazine, adding she had already begun using the dolls with her own patients, who were between 5 and 10 years old.

Other therapists from the university’s medical school said they used the dolls to get the kids talking about their private parts.

“We were able to explore and brainstorm not just what our bodies are able to do now but what we want our bodies to do and look like in the future,” bragged Adjunct Assistant Professor Elizabeth Panetta.

Critics say the dolls risk being misused by adults who want to push their ideologies on vulnerable children.

“They will find anybody who’s in trouble and use this as a tool to say, ‘this is why you’re unhappy.’ This is absolutely grooming,” slammed Dr. Quentin Van Meter, past president of the American College of Pediatricians.

“The younger kids — many of them still believe in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And you’re then presenting them with paper dolls that kind of look fun, and you can change clothing, hair, genitals… It’s well beyond their ability to sort out fantasy from reality.”

“It’s profoundly inappropriate.”

When reached by The Post, a university spokesperson claimed no public funds were used “to support MyGender Dolls’ commercialization efforts.”

But when pressed on how much taxpayer money went to research and development of the dolls, and to the salaries of the professors involved in the project, the university refused to answer, telling The Post instead to file a freedom of information request.

Walz’s office did not return The Post’s request for comment.

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