AUGUSTA, Maine — Two Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives opposed stronger gender identity protections in a Thursday vote that could foreshadow others on the issue that sparked a war with President Donald Trump.
Reps. Dani O’Halloran of Brewer and Dave Rollins of Augusta were the only Democrats to oppose a bill that would elevate civil rights protections including those for gender identity and expression that are already in the Maine Human Rights Act to the state Constitution. Such a move would make them harder for lawmakers to overturn in the future.
The bill has no chance of passage, since Republicans can block the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to send a constitutional amendment to Maine voters. But the roll call and debate on the issue were notable a day after Trump’s administration sued Maine over its policies allowing transgender girls to play sports in line with their gender identity.
It showed some cracks within the Democratic caucus on the culture-war issue that will be the subject of Republican bills to be considered later this year. Two-thirds of Maine voters agreed with barring transgender girls from sports in a University of New Hampshire poll last month.
Rollins said earlier this year that he opposed transgender girls in girls sports. O’Halloran opposed the measure in the Judiciary Committee, saying in an interview that she opposed it for the same reason and that it would have “unintended consequences.”
The half-hour debate over the proposed amendment nodded to the hot political climate. The Trump administration has targeted Maine’s federal funding in fits and starts since the president’s sharp exchange with Gov. Janet Mills at a White House event in February. Maine is also among a group of more than 20 states that have similar policies on transgender athletes.
Trump’s case against Maine rests on an untested interpretation that Title IX, the landmark 1972 law barring sex-based discrimination in schools, bars transgender girls from playing scholastic sports alongside those assigned female at birth. Three Maine athletes fit those criteria during this school year, according to the Department of Justice’s lawsuit.
“In these times of political change, diverse opinions and shifting priorities, making certain that the fundamental rights of all Mainers — yes, all Mainers — are protected is more important than all,” Rep. Holly Sargent, D-York, the bill’s sponsor, said on the House floor.
Republicans shot back by echoing Trump’s case against Maine’s policies, with Assistant House Minority Leader Katrina Smith of Palermo saying the constitutional change would be “a step backward” for women.
“That’s a blank check handed to unelected judges, bureaucrats and administrators who run organizations throughout our state,” she said. “They will be the ones who will decide what equality means to us.”