'They want to trans children so badly': Maine's 'transgender trafficking bill' likely to pass and trigger interstate battle



Democratic state Rep. Anne Perry's LD 227, dubbed the "Transgender Trafficker Protection Act" by critics, is a radical piece of legislation that would codify the right to sex-change mutilations and abortion in Maine, shield sex-change surgeons from consequence, and bar authorities from notifying parents of the locations of their kidnapped children if those kids are said to be seeking "gender-affirming care" in the state.

In recent weeks, LD 227 was condemned by Republican lawmakers, the Maine Sheriffs' Association, and 16 state attorneys general who indicated that it was unconstitutional.

The parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit led a massive campaign this month to raise awareness about LD 227 and get it killed in committee.

The eight Democrats on Maine's Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services were evidently unswayed by parents' concerns and the overwhelming backlash, voting Thursday to advance LD 227.

Fellow travelers in the Maine Legislature and the governor's mansion will now likely see LD 227 through to becoming law, thereby setting up an interstate battle.

"This was already defeated in January," Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Lui told Blaze News, referencing the death of LD 1735, a similar piece of legislation killed in committee. "But they want to trans children so badly, and they want to separate them from their parents so badly, that they're getting it through by piggybacking on the abortion bill."

The bill

Blaze News previously reported that in addition to codifying the legal right to sex-change mutilations and abortions without age or time limits, LD 227:

  • helps health care practitioners escape professional discipline and legal accountability for crimes related to sex-change procedures performed in and outside Maine;
  • authorizes persons targeted with criminal or administrative action to sue those seeking to hold them accountable;
  • requires insurance companies to cover sex-change procedures but not the health care needs of detransitioners;
  • effectively prevents law enforcement from reuniting parents with children who have run away or been taken to Maine for abortions or sex changes; and
  • allows virtually any adult to take a child across state lines for "gender-affirming care" even if the kid is not their own or is "incapacitated."

Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby confirmed that under LD 227, an individual could take a child "from another state against the parents' wishes" to Maine for sex-change procedures.

"And Maine law enforcement would have their hands tied. Maine judiciary would have their hands tied — would not be able to actually help return that child to their lawful parents," added Libby.

Lui previously told Blaze News, "This is the nastiest bill I've ever seen. Even worse than anything that I've seen come out of California. I never thought I would say that."

The opposition

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and 15 other state attorneys general, convinced the bill was animated by a "totalitarian impulse to stifle dissent and oppress dissenters," told Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills in a March 11 letter that LD 227 is unconstitutional and "seeks to contravene the lawful policy choices of our States' citizens by imposing on the rest of the country Maine's views on hotly debated issues such as gender transition surgeries for children."

The attorneys general indicated they would take action if the bill was passed and ratified. Now that federal battle is all but guaranteed.

Mary-Anne LaMarre, executive director of the Maine Sheriffs' Association, stressed to the committee members Thursday that LD 227 "has unanimous opposition of Maine Sheriff's Association's legislative policy committee."

LaMarre noted that the association was "unable to find anyone that was consulted on the language of the bill."

Maine law enforcement fully rejects this horrendous Transgender Trafficking bill, LD 227
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Courage Is a Habit, various individual parental rights advocates, and some critics of gender ideology, including All-American swim star Riley Gaines, rallied against LD 227 and attempted to focus pressure on the Democratic committee members who ultimately supported the legislation.

The result and response

The bill cleared committee in an 8-4 vote along party lines.

Sens. Donna Bailey (D) and Cameron Reny (D), along with Reps. Poppy Arford (D), Anne Perry (D), Sally Cluchey (D), Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D), Kristi Michele Mathieson (D), and Jane Pringle (D) voted in the affirmative.

It will now go to the state House floor for a vote.

Video of the vote, with all 8 Democrats voting for the revamped Trans Trafficking bill to pass committee
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Planned Parenthood, an incentivized champion of the legislation, celebrated the advancement of LD 227.

Lis Margulies, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said in a statement, "Mainers can be proud today that 8 elected leaders said loudly and clearly: We will protect our state's health care providers and access to care from extremist attack."

"We have seen over the past few weeks that people both inside and outside of our state who are opposed to this safe, legal medical care will not stop their attempts to take away our rights and freedoms, and the protections provide [sic] by LD 227 are a step forward in ensuring Maine's clinicians can continue offering safe, legal medical care without fear of hostile actions from out-of-state actors," added Margulies.

When previously blasting the state attorneys general for taking issue with LD 227, Planned Parenthood recycled the now-debunked suggestion that sex-change procedures amount to "life-saving medical care."

The LGBT outfit Equality Maine similarly was delighted by the result, calling it "great news."

LGBT activist Erin Reed, Montana Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr's boyfriend, tweeted, "A huge number of people emailed the legislators to let them know that bomb threats and the 'terrorists veto' should not be respected in Maine. But the work isn't done for those seeking to make Maine a safe state for all."

Courage Is a Habit responded on X, writing, "This is an all out war on children."

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Lui told Blaze News that there are two big takeaways for Americans. First, it is important to recognize that gender ideologues are playing a "long game." Accordingly, they are not dissuaded by short-term losses. By the same token, conservative victories — such as the defeat of LD 1735 — cannot be taken for granted or treated as definitive.

Second, Lui indicated that while critical battles are fought at the legislative level, the bulk of the war against radical gender ideology is cultural and fought locally.

"It's a good reminder that people transform their culture. [Gender ideologues] will stop at nothing to come after your children — until the cult is completely dismantled, until they're sued into oblivion," said Lui. "The transgender social contagion begins at school with school counselors; pronouns; keeping things from parents; all the transgender propaganda within the culture of the school; the teachers; the social workers; equity policies."

"So if parents really want to dismantle the cult, to end the social contagion, [they have to do it] at the school level," said the parental rights advocate.

Lui further suggested that a failure to prevent the indoctrination of younger generations in schools will guarantee more victims for the "cult" and an uphill battle in legislatures around the country.

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Maine Democrats push 'totalitarian' rebuild of defeated 'transgender trafficking bill' — with national implications



Democratic lawmakers in Maine attempted to pass a radical bill earlier this year that threatened to allow the state to seize custody of children whose parents — both in and outside Maine — refused them sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions.

Following a successful pressure campaign led by the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit and some mild Republican pushback, LD 1735, dubbed the "transgender trafficking bill" by critics, was killed in committee.

Maine Democrats are evidently not finished with their apparent attempts to break up families, shield sex-change surgeons from consequence, and altogether codify gender ideology in the state. In fact, they have doubled down, rolling some of the most consequential elements of LD 1735 into a new bill, Democratic state Rep. Anne Perry's LD 227.

A state committee will consider whether to advance LD 227 Thursday, affording critics just one more day to make their opposition known and potentially stop the initiative in its tracks.

Overview

Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Lui told Blaze News, "This is the nastiest bill I've ever seen. Even worse than anything that I've seen come out of California. I never thought I would say that."

LD 227 — referred to by Lui and other critics as the "Transgender Trafficker Protection Act" — would prohibit "interference" with abortions or sex-change mutilations, protect medical practitioners from lawsuits, and conceal the known whereabouts of interstate child runaways from their parents, among other things.

Already 16 state attorneys general have threatened action against Maine if the bill passes, noting in a March 11 letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills that LD 227 "seeks to contravene the lawful policy choices of our States' citizens by imposing on the rest of the country Maine's views on hotly debated issues such as gender transition surgeries for children."

Extra to underscoring the federal implications and unconstitutional nature of the bill, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and the other attorneys general suggested LD 227 is animated by a "totalitarian impulse to stifle dissent and oppress dissenters."

If passed and ratified, then the fates of LD 227 and the children it would victimize might ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Courage Is a Habit has stressed that there is time left for Maine residents and other objectors to help sink it.

On Thursday, the following eight Democratic Maine lawmakers will determine whether to advance the bill in committee: Sens. Donna Bailey (D) and Cameron Reny (D), along with Reps. Poppy Arford (D), Anne Perry (D), Sally Cluchey (D), Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D), Kristi Michele Mathieson (D), and Jane Pringle (D).

Courage Is a Habit has created a simple form for individuals looking to share their thoughts about LD 227 with Maine lawmakers.

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'Transgender Trafficker Protection Act'

According to a recent draft of LD 227, the bill would apparently:

  • codify the legal right to sex-change mutilations and abortions without stipulating any age or time limits;
  • hinder efforts by states and persons to take legal action against health professionals involved in the facilitation or execution of sex-change medical interventions and abortions, apparently even in the case of medical malpractice;
  • spare health care practitioners from professional discipline based on crimes, civil actions, or convictions in other states for sex-change or abortion-related actions deemed acceptable in Maine;
  • authorize persons targeted with criminal or administrative action for their hand in "engaging in or for aiding and assisting legally protected health care activity" to "bring a civil action in this State for damages, punitive damages and equitable relief" — ostensibly meaning surgeons could sue detransitioners who bring malpractice suits;
  • prevent Maine law enforcement from notifying the parents of those child runaways said to be pursuing abortions or sex changes;
  • enable virtually any adult to take a child across state lines to Maine for "gender-affirming care" even if the child is not their own or "incapacitated"; and
  • prevent the arrest of persons "if the arrest is related to criminal liability that is based on legally protected health care activity or aiding and assisting legally protected health care activity."

"It's everything that LD 1735 was supposed to be, except it adds a bunch of other things," Lui told Blaze News.

For instance, Lui indicated LD 277 forces insurance companies to cover all sex-change procedures, but not the health care needs of detransitioners or therapy to resolve existing comorbidities before taking sterilizing sex-change drugs. It also "adds in protection for the transgender traffickers."

"So if somebody's blue-haired liberal aunt or some neighbor takes a child over to Maine, [the state] won't contact the parents — which was in the original transgender trafficking bill," continued Lui. "But now ... the parents can't sue. They can't say, 'Wait a minute, that adult has kidnapped my child to Maine so that they could get a surgery.'"

Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby recently confirmed that the blue-haired aunt from Lui's hypothetical who takes her "niece from another state against the parents' wishes would be allowed to do that. And Maine law enforcement would have their hands tied. Maine judiciary would have their hands tied — would not be able to actually help return that child to their lawful parents."

Libby emphasized that LD 227 is the "worst bill [she] has ever seen come through the legislature."

"The worst bill I have ever seen." \n\nRep. Laurel Libby expertly destroys the left-wing narratives regarding the revamped Transgender Trafficking bill.
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Federal implications and junk science

Attorney Joel Thornton, the COO and director of Advocacy for Child and Parental Rights Campaign, said LD 227 "is pretty outrageous as it extends the state's authority throughout the United States to protect what Maine is declaring to be the law in Maine, and effectively making it the law of the land to anyone who happens to be in Maine."

According to the letter from the opposed state attorneys general to Gov. Mills, "LD 227 not only purports to shield from liability those offering or aiding the provision of unlawful services to citizens located in our States — a provision Planned Parenthood asserts would 'safeguard' Maine providers and patients from 'out-of-state laws that ban or restrict care that is legal in Maine.'"

"The law also creates a private right of action for damages against law enforcement, prosecutors, and other officials in our States who are enforcing our own valid state laws, even laws whose constitutionality has been confirmed by federal appellate courts," continued the letter. "On top of that, LD 227 purports to block valid orders and judgments from our state courts enforcing laws upheld by federal appellate courts."

The attorneys general reduced Maine's proposed law as an unconstitutional and "novel effort at a state-sanctioned culture war litigation tourism."

Extra to likely running afoul of federal law, Lui highlighted how LD 227 relies on junk science, namely that given a gloss by the World Professional Association for Trangender Health.

The understanding of "gender-affirming health care" central to the legislation is, after all, defined in accordance with supposed expertise "in the field of gender-affirming care including in the Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People ... published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health."

Blaze News recently noted that leaked internal documents reveal there are serious concerns behind closed doors at WPATH over the debilitating and potentially fatal side effects of sex-change procedures as well as over the inability for children to provide informed consent for so-called "gender-affirming care."

The pseudo-scientific nature of "gender-affirming care" has become all the more clear in recent months:

  • England's National Health Service banned puberty blockers for minors, highlighting both their dangers and a dearth of evidence to support their efficacy.
  • Finland's leading child psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala told her government that the vast majority of kids will grow out of the delusion that their gender and sex are misaligned.
  • A massive Finnish studypublished in the esteemed quarterly journal BMJ Mental Health concluded that "medical gender reassignment does not have an impact on suicide risk."

Blaze News reached out to the sponsor of LD 277, Demoratic state Rep. Anne Perry, for comment. She did not, however, provide a response by deadline.

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