Maine’s Judiciary Committee last week voted 12-0 to kill House Bill 1735, which would have prevented the enforcement, in Maine, of other states’ laws that ban gender-affirming health care for those seeking such care in Maine.
The decision to kill Maine’s proposed trans refuge bill was bipartisan. However, since it’s introduction last year, the bill had became a legislative lightning rod due to an ongoing campaign of disinformation led by far-right influencers, including Libs of TikTok.
Reported the Los Angeles Blade:
The vote to kill the bill came after a relentless social media campaign from leading national anti-trans activists targeting Democrats on the committee with disinformation about what the bill would do. In the Thursday working session, Representative Matt Moonen stated that some of the language in the bill that has come under attack “did not further the goals” intended of the bill and moved that the bill “ought not to pass,” essentially recommending that his own bill be killed in committee. …
[T]he section of the bill that garnered the most media attention was the one protecting abused and neglected transgender youth. It proposed allowing judges jurisdiction over cases involving their presence in the state and also included measures to protect parents in custody disputes where one parent consents to the child receiving care and the other does not.
This sparked an intense pressure campaign from prominent anti-trans social media influencers and organizations, targeting the committee members. They received an overwhelming number of emails and phone calls, spurred by calls to action from far-right media. Libs of TikTok, known for posts frequently followed by bomb threats against LGBTQ+ individuals and allies, inaccurately claimed that the bill would “take custody of kids” from parents who oppose gender-affirming care; this post received 7 million views.
The bill, “An Act to Safeguard Gender-Affirming Health Care,” was sponsored by State Rep. Laurie Osher and was backed by the National Association of Social Workers, the Maine Psychological Association and the Maine Nurse Practitioner Association.
Read the complete LA Blade story here.
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