The U.S. Department of Education has opened a parental-rights investigation into “transgender” paper dolls developed through the University of Minnesota, as the product’s commercial website markets the materials to school counselors and educators despite denials of a Minnesota public-school rollout.
The department announced the probe Wednesday after Defending Education filed a complaint asserting that the proposed use of MyGender Dolls in schools could violate the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.
The agency’s press release said parents had not received notice or an opportunity to opt their children out of an activity involving the dolls. Federal officials called the materials sexually explicit and said PPRA violations can put an educational entity’s federal funding at risk.
The underlying six-page complaint, however, leaves a critical fact unresolved. It identifies no school, district, purchaser, pilot, child, or completed classroom use. The filing says Minnesota children “may soon” receive the dolls and conditions its legal theory on whether recent news reports are true.
That gap does not end the inquiry. It makes the project’s interest form, customer, training, university, and school records more important than competing public statements.
Product site targets educators
The current MyGender Dolls website says the product is “Launching 2026” for clinicians and educators. It advertises doll bases, expansion packs, and training materials, says the product is designed for children ages 4 to 10, and lists “School Counselors & Educators” among the intended users in “clinical and educational settings.”
The linked interest form provides a more specific school-facing trail. It identifies elementary and middle school teachers among the occupations respondents may select. The form also requires a company or institution and asks whether respondents work with “pre-pubescent children,” adolescents, or other age groups.
The form asks how respondents learned about MyGender Dolls, including through an association listserv, conference, presentation, workshop, or online advertisement. Those fields could show whether the company conducted organized outreach to educators, schools, or professional associations.
The interest form does not prove that any Minnesota educator acquired or used the dolls. It could, however, create records identifying school-affiliated interest and communications.
Project developers Dianne Berg and G. Nic Rider told KSTP-TV that the dolls “will not be in public schools this year.” They said licensed professionals would have to complete training before using them and that no launch date had been set.
KSTP contacted the 19 largest school districts in the seven-county Twin Cities area. Eight responded, and none said it planned to use the dolls. Seven had never heard of the project. The Minnesota Department of Education told the station that it had no involvement, while Gov. Tim Walz’s office said the state was not implementing the materials.
Those denials address a current statewide rollout. They do not establish whether a school-affiliated professional completed the interest form, received a demonstration, participated in customer research, discussed a future purchase, or planned to use the dolls outside a general classroom.
University records establish funding trail
The University of Minnesota’s official award registry lists MyGender Dolls as a Spring 2023 recipient of its Early Innovation Fund for a study intended to “further develop and systematically test” the project.
The University currently describes Early Innovation Fund awards as ranging from $3,000 to $10,000. Current rules permit spending on prototypes, personnel, implementation, user feedback, and customer conversations.
Those rules also require a University-owned innovation or intellectual-property interest and an intellectual-property disclosure or case used to track licensing and commercialization activity.
The current requirements do not establish which rules governed the project’s 2023 award. The contemporaneous rules, award agreement, and project file could show whether an intellectual-property disclosure or commercialization case existed at the time.
A 2023 University annual report said the project received grant funding and donations. It described children selecting bodies, genitalia, clothing, and accessories to visualize their anatomy and “genders.”
The University’s 2024 report said grant and donation support enabled continued research and development. It said project leaders used community feedback to revise the dolls and accompanying therapeutic tools and were working with University offices to bring the materials into clinical spaces.
Photographs in the report show researchers displaying the dolls at the September 2024 World Professional Association for Transgender Health conference in Lisbon during a presentation concerning “gender diverse young children” in clinical care and research. The report does not document school use, but the current commercial website and interest form now identify educators and elementary and middle school teachers as prospective users.
A photograph published in a 2024 University of Minnesota report shows MyGender Dolls figures and interchangeable components alongside on-screen body, face, hand and anatomy options. | Image via University of Minnesota; cropped by DX.
The University’s National Center for Gender Spectrum Health also announced that the project received an MVP Challenge Award through MIN-Corps. The University’s Innovation Investments page says MIN-Corps is funded by the National Science Foundation and supports commercialization and customer discovery.
University officials disputed the Trump administration’s funding description, telling CBS Minnesota that MyGender Dolls “received no state or federal dollars to support the development of the dolls or commercialization efforts.” The University also said MyGender Dolls is now independent and unaffiliated with the institution.
The public record reviewed by The Dallas Express does not establish that federal money reached the dolls. The University’s statement also does not disclose the Early Innovation Fund ledger, other grants and donations, any intellectual-property case, any license or option agreement, or whether University personnel, facilities, or program resources assisted the project.
Provided by Dallas Express
