copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-14): No, Tim Walz did not sign bill including pedophilia as 'sexual orientation' | Fact check [...] "Democrat VP Candidate Tim Walz Signed a Bill Redefining the Term ‘Sexual Orientation’ to INCLUDE PEDOPHILES," reads the start of the post. [...] The bill Walz signed into law does no such thing. The state's definition of sexual orientation does not include pedophilia.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-08): Walz made Minnesota a ‘trans refuge’, championing gender affirming care - Governor Tim Walz signed a law making Minnesota a sanctuary state for children seeking transgender medical treatment.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-10-01): Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been on the national political stage for fewer than two months. Yet an array of false or misleading claims has circulated about the Democrats’ nominee for vice president. Many centered on his gubernatorial record and the various policy proposals he and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have promoted. Others reference his prior occupations. Before going into politics, Walz was a teacher, a football coach and a soldier in the Army National Guard. Among the false or misleading claims related to Walz that USA TODAY has debunked:
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-14): Right-wing media falsely claim that Gov. Tim Walz created a protected class for perpetrators of child sexual assault [...] Following Vice President Kamala Harris' announcement that she had selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, right-wing media falsely tried to paint Walz as an extremist by narrowing in on his support for LGBTQ constituents. In addition to targeting Walz's policies on gender-affirming care and menstrual equity, right-wing media also recycled old strands of anti-LGBTQ misinformation, falsely accusing Walz of having created a protected class for perpetrators of child sexual assault even though legal experts and state representatives have debunked such claims.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-19): "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ pick as running mate, supports changing the law so that pedophilia is recognized as a legitimate ‘sexual orientation.'" [...] Several social media posts and Republican politicians made claims that the bill redefined sexual orientation to include pedophilia or protected pedophiles from discrimination in Minnesota. [...] "Of course, pedophilia is not a sexual orientation. The language never should have been included in the statutory definition in the first place."
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2023-05-02): However, Finke’s proposal also removed a provision from the state’s Human Rights Act stating that sexual orientation does not include pedophiles. Critics expressed concern that if left unaltered, then that would mean pedophiles claiming their attraction to children as part of their sexual orientation would be protected from discrimination under the law. [...] Minnesota Republican House Minority Leader, Lisa Demuth, told Fox News Digital that the effort to strike down the language in the Human Rights Act stating that "sexual orientation does not include physical or sexual attraction to children by an adult" was "disturbing" and "inexplicable." [...] In a statement to Fox News, the Minnesota lawmaker also insisted that nothing in his legislation would prevent the state from prosecuting pedophiles. Finke added that "pedophilia is not a sexual orientation."
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2023-05-15): Lawmaker Weeps About Fantasy Pedos Does State Sen. Nathan Wesenberg (R-Little Falls) understand the omnibus public safety bill he’s railing against? "I think its worth considering if voting ‘yes’ to change the language—to let pedophilia be a protected class—is actually the right thing to do," he pondered at a recent meeting, clearly (and likely, intentionally) misunderstanding what exactly is on the table with this piece of legislation. Basically, the bill is refreshing the state’s definition of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to better protect trans, agender, and nonbinary individuals from things like housing and job discrimination. Anti-trans hate groups like Gays Against Groomers, however, have been pretending to misinterpret updated language in bills like this as granting protection to child rapists. (This is the same pedophilia panic Gen Z Republican Elliott Engen was peddling last month.) During his speech, Wesenberg wept, quoted the Bible, and claimed that this bill would also protect people who are attracted to potatoes, hippopotami, and airplanes. Ah yes, the old "marrying a toaster" argument. But this thinking, as many legal eagles have noted, is dumb. "No court in the country has or would ever say that a law protecting people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation extends to protecting pedophilia," law professor Brian Soucek tells Politifact.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-09-17): There is no evidence the LGBTQ+ community aims to incorporate pedophilia into its advocacy, national fact-checking organization PolitiFact has previously found. The narrative is rooted in past anti-gay movements and is tied to a history of longstanding false claims that gay, lesbian and bisexual people molest children at higher rates than people who are not LGBTQ+. Research shows that notion is not supported by evidence. Studies of child sexual abuse have shown that most child molesters identify as heterosexual. [...] On Aug. 6, RNC Research, an X account run by former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, falsely accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Aug. 6 of signing a bill "redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles." In July, a website known for spreading misinformation claimed that "LGBTQ+ leaders" signed a treaty to "accept pedophiles as 'legally protected minority." PolitiFact rated that claim Pants on Fire, meaning the statement is inaccurate and makes a ridiculous claim.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2023-03-24): Before the House floor session began on Thursday, anti-trans demonstrators shouted at trans-rights activists, calling them groomers and pedophiles. The majority of attendees were protesting the trans refuge bill.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-07): The "Take Pride Act" sought to redefine "sexual orientation" in the Minnesota Human Rights Act, removing the explicit exclusion of pedophilia. The original text of the law stated that "‘Sexual orientation’ does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult." However, the new law, signed by Walz, removes this crucial caveat, raising concerns about the potential implications for the protection of minors. Critics argue that the removal of the anti-pedophile language could lead to the normalization of pedophilia and weaken the state’s ability to protect minors from sexual abuse and exploitation. They contend that the original language was necessary to ensure that pedophilia is not afforded any form of protection or legitimacy under the law where "sexual orientation" is a protected class. The decision from Gov. Tim Walz–who was tapped this week to be Kamala Harris’s vice presidential running mate–to sign the "Take Pride Act" into law has been met with strong opposition from conservatives, who view this move as a dangerous step towards normalizing pedophilia, something that the Democratic Party has been accused of attempting to do in recent years. Critics argue that the removal of the anti-pedophile language weakens the state’s ability to protect minors from sexual abuse and exploitation and that it opens the door for pedophilia to be recognized as a legally protected sexual orientation.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-21): Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate at an Aug. 6 rally in Philadelphia, sparking a flurry of online discussion about Walz and his background. [...] The bill Walz signed into law does no such thing. The state's definition of sexual orientation does not include pedophilia. Full fact check: No, Tim Walz did not sign bill including pedophilia as 'sexual orientation'
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2023-05-18): A disproportionate amount of debate in the House and Senate over the 500-plus page, $3.5 billion public safety bill focused on the removal of one sentence from the state's Human Rights Act (HRA): "Sexual orientation does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult." [...] The sentence about pedophilia went into the HRA in 1993 when Minnesota became the first state in the country to add sexual orientation as a protected class after a yearslong push by the late Sen. Allan Spear and former Rep. Karen Clark, both DFL-Minneapolis. Latz said Spear agreed to add the pedophilia language "to increase the comfort level of some legislators by making it clear the bill would not do some of the things that opponents claimed it would do."
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-08): The bill in question was an amendment to the state's civil rights law that edited the definition of "sexual orientation" to remove the inclusion of identities "not traditionally associated with one’s biological male or female traits." Several legal scholars noted that the law did not protect pedophiles from discrimination. On Aug. 6, 2024, RNC Research, an account operated by the Republican National Committee, posted a claim to X alleging that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris' vice-presidential running mate, signed a bill into law that specifically protected pedophiles from discrimination. The claim quickly spread, and it was picked up by conservative news outlets like the Daily Wire. [...] However, when Snopes researched the amendment by using publicly available documentation from the Minnesota state legislature, we discovered that the claim was false. The bill was real, and Walz did sign it into law, but it did not protect pedophiles from discrimination. When the claim was shared on X, the context that would have made this clear was omitted.
Claim: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill “redefining ‘sexual orientation’ to include pedophiles.” (Social media posts, 2024-08-06)
Evidence (2024-08-14): No, Tim Walz did not sign bill including pedophilia as 'sexual orientation' An Aug. 7 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes an image of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz surrounded by children. "Democrat VP Candidate Tim Walz Signed a Bill Redefining the Term ‘Sexual Orientation’ to INCLUDE PEDOPHILES," reads the start of the post. It was shared more than 200 times in less than a week. Another version of the claim spread widely on X, formerly Twitter. More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page The bill Walz signed into legislation does no...
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2021-09-16): Rep. Jim Banks is not the ranking member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In fact, he isn’t on the committee at all.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2021-09-16): Rep. Jim Banks is not the ranking member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In fact, he isn’t on the committee at all. [...] Banks claimed in the signature of at least one letter to a federal agency that he is the "ranking member" of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. [...] House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, "Membership," accessed Oct. 25, 2021
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-12-23): Jan. 6 report blames Trump, aims to prevent return to power WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive final report released by the House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday places the blame for the 2021 Capitol insurrection on one person: former President Donald Trump. [...] The false claims "provoked his supporters to violence on January 6th," the committee wrote. Trump summoned them to Washington and instructed them in a fiery speech to march to the Capitol even though some "were angry and some were armed."
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-06-08): On June 30, 2021, the House approved creation of the select committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. The resolution passed by a 222-190 margin. Once again, Democrats were unified in support, but the number of Republican votes in favor withered to two: Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. [...] Congress.gov, "H.R. 3233 - National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act" [...] Congress.gov, "H.Res.503 - Establishing the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol"
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-12-23): After 18 months of investigations, the Jan. 6 report is out. Here are the toplines After roughly 18 months of investigations, the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has released their full report. [...] Jan. 6 committee votes on criminal referrals against Trump
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-06-09): Critics argue that the House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, is illegitimate, amounting to a political hit job by Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans rather than a sober-minded quest to prevent disorder. [...] On June 30, 2021, the House approved creation of the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. The resolution passed by a 222-190 margin. Once again, Democrats were unified in support, but the number of Republican votes in favor withered to two: Cheney and Kinzinger. [...] This argument didn’t fly with Kelly, either, who noted the committee’s purpose was to investigate if legislation is necessary "to avert a future Jan. 6-style attack." He reasoned that the committee need not commit to specific legislation in advance of starting its work, since possible legislation could easily emerge once the committee’s efforts were underway.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-10-13): Who are the members of the January 6 select committee? [...] The select committee impanelled to investigate the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol began its ninth public hearing on Thursday, the final hearing set to take place before the November midterm elections. [...] The lead impeachment manager at Mr Trump’s post-6 january trial, Jamie Raskin was tasked with making the case to the Senate that the seriousness of the Capitol attack warranted conviction. He came close to tears while describing the weight of evidence and the dangers posed not just by the event itself but the precedent it set for presidential conduct.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-06-07): Who’s who on the Jan. 6 committee? A guide to the House members at the hearings The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the nation’s Capitol will begin a series of six televised hearings on Thursday. [...] He worked for months with Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) on legislation to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate what led to the Jan. 6 attack, but that legislation received little Republican support in the House and died in the Senate with no support from Republicans.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-06-13): Members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol listen during the first hearing on Thursday, June 9 in Washington, DC. [...] The hearing will also seek to connect Trump’s lies about the election to the violence at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, aides said, including how rioters echoed the former President’s baseless allegations that the election was being stolen. [...] The first hearing featured two witnesses — a Capitol Police officer and a documentarian who was with extremist groups on Jan. 6 — but their testimony came after a lengthy presentation from committee Chairman Benny Thompson and Cheney that summarized the panel’s findings, as well as a lengthy video showing new footage from the violent attack on the Capitol.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-06-09): The House Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol is scheduled to deliver the first set of its findings on Thursday in a public prime-time hearing. [...] - Rep. Bennie Thompson - A Democrat from Mississippi, he is the chair of the committee. He described the Capitol attack as a "horrible day." He also serves as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, the first Democrat to ever hold the position. [...] - Rep. Pete Aguilar - The California congressman is the only Latino member of the committee. He stated that he was "honored to have been selected" and described what happened on January 6 as "one of the darkest days in our country's history."
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2021-11-04): WASHINGTON — Members of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol have interviewed more than 150 people so far, ranking member Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Thursday. Cheney, the top Republican on the select committee, said that the panel spoke to "a whole range of people connected to the events, connected to understanding what happens." [...] Former Trump communications aide Alyssa Farah, who resigned from the White House weeks before the Jan. 6 attack, has been voluntarily speaking with the Republicans on the January 6th committee for a few months, a source familiar told NBC News last week.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-12-23): What to know - The House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday unveiled its formal eight-chapter report summarizing its investigation into the deadly attack on the Capitol. [...] In addition, the Jan. 6 committee recommended that federal agencies undertake a "whole of government strategy" to root out and combat violent extremism, including white nationalists. And it urged law enforcement to designate future certifications of presidential elections as a "national special security event." That would require greater planning, coordination and security for future Jan. 6 certification events at the Capitol. [...] The House Jan. 6 committee on Thursday unveiled its formal report on its historic 18-month investigation into the deadly attack on the Capitol and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The more-than-800-page report comes days after a final committee meeting at which its members — seven Democrats and two Republicans — voted to recommend that the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against Trump as he makes another bid for the White House in 2024.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2022-12-19): House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol conducts its final meeting in the Cannon House Office Building on Monday, December. 19. [...] Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol sit on Monday beneath a video of former President Donald Trump talking about the results of the 2020 election. [...] Members of the House select committee have been investigating what happened before, after and during the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Now they are getting ready to present their findings in a final report.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2021-07-27): Cheney is one of two lone Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. [...] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Sunday she appointed GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger to the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, bolstering the Republican presence on the panel after GOP leadership pulled its appointees last week. [...] The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack will hear testimony Tuesday from four police officers who were on the frontlines that day as rioters supporting then-President Trump violently stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying President Biden’s electoral win.
Claim: Says he is the ‘ranking member’ of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Banks, 2021-09-16)
Evidence (2023-08-03): Lawmakers who spent more than a year investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol are saying the new indictment against former President Donald Trump is in line with what they uncovered and presented to the public. "This does feel like a huge vindication of the rule of law and the work of the Jan. 6 committee to establish the factual narrative of what took place in the attempt to overthrow a presidential election by a president," Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the House Jan. 6 select committee, said Tuesday on "GMA 3" in response to the indictment. [...] Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the House Jan. 6 select committee, said the criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith are "consistent" with those the panel referred to the Department of Justice last year.