AUGUSTA — The Maine Senate on Monday blocked a bill advanced by the lower chamber last week that sought to prevent transgender girls from competing in girls sports.
The Senate voted 21-13 against the bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard Campbell, R-Orrington, and approved 73-70 by the House of Representatives on Friday. Neither chamber was willing to concede its actions later Monday, meaning the bill will die between chambers.
LD 233 was one of eight bills seeking to roll back transgender rights this session — a subject that took on a life of its own after President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” and confronted Gov. Janet Mills at a White House event.
Maine is being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is seeking to cut millions in federal funding in Maine, for violating the Trump administration’s interpretation of the federal Title IX law, which prevents sexual discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.
Mills has said her opposition stems from her concerns about constitutional overreach by Trump and said her administration is following Title IX and state law, specifically the Maine Human Rights Act, which has prevented discrimination based on gender identity since 2005.
Democrats, who control both chambers, successfully blocked all eight anti-transgender bills, which included attempts to prevent transgender individuals from using bathrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity.
Sen. Stacey Guerin, R-Glenburn, called on her colleagues to support Campbell’s bill, the narrowest of the anti-transgender bills and the only one to clear the House, in the name of feminism.
“If you are a true feminist and want what is best for women you will vote against the pending motion and support women being able to compete on their terms and not against biological males who are inherently strong by genetic code,” Guerin said.
Four Democrats in the House supported Campbell’s bill — Stephan Bunker of Farmington, Wayne Farrin of Jefferson, Dani O’Halloran of Brewer and David Rollins of Augusta — but it failed to get any Democratic votes in the Senate. Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford was the lone Republican to vote against it there.
In an emotional floor speech last week, Bennett said he would oppose all of the anti-transgender bills in part after having a conversation with his daughter, describing her as “a fierce and accomplished athlete” who was saddened by the debate.
“I, too, feel sadness that these bills are before us,” Bennett said. “Sadness that in a moment when we could be lifting up young people, we are entertaining proposals that single some of them out, setting them apart as ‘other.’ I’m saddened by the growing tendency to turn away from the better angels of our nature. Saddened by the pull toward a culture of fear, the politics of division, the hardening of silos and the temptation to stigmatize those who are different.”
The Senate also voted Monday to kill LD 868, a bill sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Caruso, R-Caratunk, that would have prohibited transgender athletes from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, while allowing them to play on co-ed teams.
Caruso’s bill, which also would have restricted access to restrooms and locker rooms, was initially deadlocked in the House, but later failed by a single vote.
