Some days, I genuinely wonder if the overwhelming hatred, transphobia and bigotry we see in this country boils down to hatred of women and the “need” to oppress women at every level. It’s a throughline, that’s all I’ll say. I bring that up because one of the first big attacks from the Trump-Vance campaign on Governor Tim Walz was that… as governor, Walz mandated free tampons and pads in public schools. The Trump-Vance campaign is calling him “Tampon Tim.” Get it? Because it’s insulting to say that a man tries to provide a service to menstruating public school students. It’s all funny to them, that people menstruate. It’s a political jab to them. They think this is a winning strategy.
As part of their effort to portray Tim Walz, the new Democratic vice-presidential candidate, as a far-left liberal, the Trump campaign attacked the Minnesota governor on Tuesday for signing a bill last year that provides access to menstrual products for transgender students.
At issue is broadly inclusive language in the law, which states that products like pads, tampons and other products used for menstruation “must be available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12.” Republican state lawmakers in Minnesota had tried — and failed — to amend that bill so that it would apply only to “female restrooms,” though some Republicans went on to vote for the final version of bill. Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said in an interview on Tuesday on Fox News that the law, among other policies seen as supportive of transgender rights, was “a threat to women’s health.”
“As a woman, I think there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender-transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools,” Ms. Leavitt said. “Those are radical policies that Tim Walz supports. He actually signed a bill to do that.”
State Representative Sandra Feist, a Democrat and the chief author of the bill, said in an interview that it was important for her and the student activists who pushed for the change that transgender students were able to access menstrual products without having to ask for them.
“I actually received emails,” Ms. Feist said. “From trans students, parents, teachers, librarians, custodians from across the country, talking about how they were — or that they knew — trans students who faced these barriers and needed these products, and how much it meant to them that they would have that access, and also that we were standing up for them.”
This is like the “Walz ensured free school lunches” thing – it’s about equality and supporting the community and supporting young people. The legislators of Minnesota listened to young people and educators who said they needed this and they made it happen. Kids need access to pads and tampons in school. It’s a global issue, not just a national issue – period poverty is such a fundamental issue, the United Nations and multiple NGOs are all trying to tackle it and have been for years. It’s one of the issues at the heart of girls’ education globally. And the Trump campaign is like “hahaha Tampon Tim, it’s funny that kids have periods.”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.