Maine “Transgender Trafficking Bill” Killed by Legislative Committee

A bill that would have turned Maine into a “sanctuary state” for kids who want to change their gender went down to a resounding defeat Thursday at the hands of the Maine Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

The majority-Democrat committee voted unanimously to prevent LD1735, which opponents dubbed the “Transgender Trafficking Bill,” from being sent to the floor for a vote of the full Legislature. According to the Maine Beacon, which noted that the bill “was a top priority for transgender rights advocates this session,” “Democrats, who had initially backed the bill, stated on Thursday that it included unnecessary language for the purpose of safeguarding transgender healthcare in Maine, leading to their decision to oppose it.”

More likely, they and their Republican colleagues were so inundated with calls and emails from concerned parents across the country after the bill became national news that they didn’t dare vote for it.

“The angst that the parents from around the country have reached out to talk to us about this bill, that should’ve never come to be,” state Senator Lisa Keim (R) said Thursday. “Parents shouldn’t have their rights threatened in this way, and this is a dangerous bill for children.”

Before the committee vote, The New American had reported that LD1735

would (a) make Maine a “sanctuary state” for minors from other states seeking gender transitions and (b) declare parents’ refusal to accede to their kids’ requests for “gender-affirming care” grounds for the state to take custody of them….

Under the proposed law, an adult could take a child to Maine to obtain puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or sex-change surgery, and the child’s parents would have no recourse to prevent such treatments or to retrieve their child, even if they live in a state with laws restricting such treatments for minors.

LD1735 prohibited law enforcement from arresting or extraditing anyone based on another state’s laws restricting “gender-affirming health care” for minors. It forced Maine courts to take jurisdiction of all cases involving minors’ gender changes — even when the minors reside in another state. It forbade the release of any information concerning a minor’s gender-transition treatments when requested by an entity in a state that prohibits gender changes for minors.

Perhaps most shockingly, the bill would have granted the state “temporary emergency jurisdiction” over any child “present in this state” if “the child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”

“This gives the state jurisdiction to effectively come into your home and take your kids based on a medical decision you made for the wellbeing and mental wellbeing of your child,” said state Representative Rachel Henderson (R).

State Representative Laurie Osher (D), the leader of the Legislature’s LGBTQ Equality Caucus and sponsor of the bill, disagreed with this characterization of LD1735.

“That’s disrespectful to our care providers,” she said. “Our care providers are trained, we have certification and licensing in Maine, and they only provide the care that’s needed for their patients.”

Likewise, when introducing the bill in May, Osher said it was needed because “other states are actively criminalizing safe, medically necessary healthcare.”

However, as The Daily Signal observed:

The bill’s framing around “gender-affirming care” overlooks the testimony of doctors who warn that even the “social transition” of encouraging a boy to present as a girl “is a powerful psychotherapeutic intervention that radically changes outcomes.” Doctors also warn that children can’t possibly give informed consent for procedures that may sterilize them and put them at risk of long-term side effects such as decreased bone density and cardiovascular disease.

Osher’s assurances that healthcare providers can be trusted in such matters can hardly be taken seriously. Doctors, hospitals, and medical associations across the United States are among the foremost proponents of these untested, dangerous treatments — even as their European counterparts, who can hardly be considered reactionaries, have slammed the brakes on them.

Courage Is a Habit, an organization that opposed LD1735, celebrated its demise, calling it “only a glimpse of what can happen when Americans take action and reject those who hate America, our Constitution, and parental rights.”

“My team and I are so incredibly grateful for every single person that wrote emails and shared it with their family and friends,” the group’s president, Alvin Lui, told the Daily Caller. “What we do really doesn’t matter if people don’t take action. And this was a loud and clear message by parents across America to the Transgender Cult that their emotional blackmail is coming to an end. Parents don’t care about labels anymore. This cult will not take our children.”

Maine state Representative Katrina Smith (R), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told the Daily Signal, “Today we won a victory for our children who have been fooled into thinking they are not perfect the way God made them. With the death of LD 1735 we have proven that when evil is brought out of the darkness and exposed in the light, it can be vanquished. The people spoke loudly and it mattered.”

But, as the Daily Caller cautioned, “it’s no time to be complacent.” According to WGME, Osher vowed to continue her quest to make Maine a haven for the transgender cult and its Dr. Mengeles.

“We will make sure that people are protected [and] that our care providers are protected,” she declared. “Today was a moment where we’re not getting that done, but we will get that done.”