(The Lion) — After Maine Democrats censured a Republican lawmaker for opposing transgender-identifying athletes competing in girls’ sports, the GOP is fighting back with a messaging bill.
State Rep. Liz Caruso, R-Caratunk, plans to file legislation to prevent males from competing in school sports. It would also require students to use the locker room that corresponds with their anatomical sex.
“Denying biological reality and allowing males to compete on female athletic teams has been a huge setback for women,” Caruso told Spectrum News. “We cannot allow ourselves to become second-class citizens anywhere, let alone our own sports teams.”
The move comes after the Democrat-controlled House voted 75-70 to censure Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn (pictured above), for calling out a transgender indoor track athlete Katie Spencer who won two girls’ state titles last week.
As a result of the censure, Libby cannot vote on legislation or speak on the House floor until she apologizes, which she refuses to do.
Support for traditional definitions of gender is growing nationally, state policies and polls show.
Currently, 30 states restrict transgender-identifying athletes from competing in interscholastic athletics; 25 states ban it by law, and five have state athletic association policies preventing it. Georgia may become the 31st state to ban it.
A New York Times poll last month found that 79% of Americans oppose transgender identifying-males competing in girls’ sports, while just 18% support it.
This week, a Pew Research poll found that over the last three years, the country has become noticeably more conservative on these issues.
For example, it found strong support for laws requiring transgender athletes to compete on a team that matches their anatomical sex (66% favor, 15% oppose), banning so-called gender-affirming care for minors (56% favor, 26% oppose), requiring transgender-identifying people to use the bathroom matching their anatomical sex (49% favor, 26% oppose) and banning instruction on so-called gender identity in elementary schools (47% favor, 34% oppose).
Plus, 53% oppose requiring health insurance companies to cover so-called gender-affirming care, while only 22% support it.
In Maine, student athletes are speaking up to oppose the state’s governor, who openly defied Donald Trump regarding his executive order to withhold federal funding from states that allow men to compete in women’s sports.
(Media credit: screenshot of Rep. Laurel Libby; YouTube)
