Family First candidate wants written pledge from Minns Government

Family First NSW Legislative Council lead candidate Lyle Shelton is pressing the Minns Government to give a written guarantee that MyGender Dolls will never be used in NSW schools or preschools.

The demand follows a University of Minnesota programme for children as young as four. The dolls include removable internal and external genitalia and more than 100 clothing, hair and accessory pieces.

The University of Minnesota’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health spent more than six years developing the MyGender Dolls project. Researchers also paid families between $20 and $60 to play with the dolls and talk about gender and bodies in group sessions.

The dolls are due to roll out in Minnesota classrooms, clinics and counsellors’ offices in the fall. Shelton argues NSW should block any similar material before it reaches classrooms in the state.

“This is not education, it is ideology dressed up as a toy, funded with millions of taxpayer dollars and aimed squarely at four-year-olds,” Mr Shelton said.

Tim Walz’s $15 million funding

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has put $15 million a year into the medical school’s research budget. In 2023, the institute also handed Walz its inaugural Distinguished Sexual and Gender Health Champion Award.

When reporters asked how much of that funding went to MyGender Dolls, the university did not provide a figure. Instead, it told reporters to file a freedom of information request.

Shelton warned that Australians should not treat the issue as only a United States debate. He pointed to the Victorian Department of Education and the Respectful Relationships curriculum as examples he believes brought similar ideas closer to Australia.

“Every time we have said ‘surely they won’t take it that far,’ they have taken it that far,” Mr Shelton said.

Shelton wants Premier Chris Minns and the NSW Education Minister to rule out the dolls across public and private schools, as well as preschools. He argues the government should act before any activist group tries to bring the programme to NSW.

Dr Quentin Van Metre, past president of the American College of Pediatricians, also criticised the project. He warned that children still young enough to believe in the Tooth Fairy are being given dolls with swappable genitals before they can separate fantasy from reality.

Shelton said the Minnesota case reinforces Family First’s broader NSW campaign. The party wants gender ideology removed from the curriculum and parents restored as the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives.