Minnesota Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Glen Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, over an email he sent to the chamber’s 34 Democrats containing a link to a video labeled “transgender surgeries on minor children.”
Maye Quade said the video included images of “children’s genitalia” that Gruenhagen himself called “extremely graphic and disturbing.” Maye Quade said the email was against Senate rules because it amounted to a violation of “accepted norms of Senate behavior, that betrays the public trust, or that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor or disrepute.”
Maye Quade mentioned the ethics complaint during a news conference Friday before the Senate was expected to debate legislation making Minnesota a refuge for families where transgender youth can receive gender affirming care.
“This crossed the line,” Maye Quade said of the email.
In response to the complaint, Gruenhagen said in a statement: “I’m disappointed that Sen. Maye Quade choose to take this matter public before of approaching me with her concerns. I’m sure we could have found some resolution as colleagues.”
He said the email contained no images, only a link to a video that “did not indicate an age for the patient.” Gruenhagen said the message “information related to a bill on the Senate floor ” and was meant to be “informational for our members.”
Maye Quade made the ethics complaint to Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, April 19 and it will be considered by a Senate subcommittee. Gruenhagen said he expected the panel will decide the matter fairly soon.
