Gianforte rebuts far-right accusations about child protection case

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is defending the state health department’s actions in an active child protective case against a wave of online criticism from conservative groups, including some far-right, anti-LGBTQ social media accounts, an unusually public commentary from the state’s highest elected official about confidential child welfare proceedings.

In a series of Monday afternoon posts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Gianforte responded to direct call-outs from prominent anti-transgender commenters who alleged that the state’s child welfare division had “kidnapped” a Glasgow teenager last fall and sidestepped the state’s new law against minors receiving gender-affirming care in Montana by allowing the youth to seek those services in another state.

While there is a current child protective case and related court proceedings involving a teenager who identifies as transgender and was removed from their parents’ custody last fall, the narrative fanned by online anti-transgender groups is largely unsupported by court records and email communication examined by Montana Free Press over the course of several months.