Age of Consent
Sex Education Required by State
Sex Education Type
Medically Accurate Content Required
LGBTQ+ Inclusive
Consent Education Taught
Adult Entertainment
Minnesota's age of consent is 16. There is a close-in-age provision under Minnesota Statutes Section 609.344: sexual activity involving a 13-, 14-, or 15-year-old is a lesser offense if the defendant is less than four years older than the minor.
Minnesota requires comprehensive sex education that is medically accurate, inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities and relationships, and includes consent education. The mandate is one of the stronger ones in the Midwest. Minnesota updated its sex education standards in 2023 to strengthen LGBTQ+ inclusion and consent requirements. Schools must cover contraception, STI prevention, healthy relationships, and reproductive anatomy.
Minnesota's adult entertainment environment is among the more permissive in the Midwest. Minneapolis has an established adult entertainment industry, and the state regulates it through local licensing without aggressive state-level restrictions. The Minnesota Supreme Court has applied strong First Amendment protections to adult businesses and performances.
Strong comprehensive sex ed mandate. Medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, consent education required.
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Discussions
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- Age of consent needs to change : r/offmychest
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In the News
- Minnesota readies first-ever K-12 health education standards - MPR NewsMay 14
- Rep. Finke Was Right: Age-Gating Isn’t About Kids, It’s About Control - Electronic Frontier FoundationMar 12
- ‘We all know someone’: At the Capitol, a bipartisan effort to end predatory grooming - MPR NewsApr 24
- An important piece is missing from the reproductive freedom debate: comprehensive sex education - Minnesota ReformerOct 7
- Ending the stigma and sparking change: How to talk to your friends and family about comprehensive sex education - Planned Parenthood Action FundOct 25
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Sources: NCSL, Guttmacher Institute, SIECUS State Profiles, Wikipedia "Ages of consent in the United States". Laws change — verify current status with official sources.