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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Parental rights advocates secure victory in Maine with death of 'transgender trafficking bill'



The Maine House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee was poised Thursday to advance a bill that threatened to allow the state to seize custody of children whose parents refused them sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions. It was evidently not meant to be.

Following some Republican backlash and a successful pressure campaign led by the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit, the committee voted 12-0 on the motion that LD 1735 — dubbed the "transgender trafficking bill" by critics — "ought not to pass."

Courage Is a Habit said the victory demonstrated "what happens when you stop letting the Transgender cult emotionally blackmail you. The every-day-American Patriot is not helpless."

The so-called "Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care" was the handiwork of Democratic state Rep. Laurie Osher, leader of the Legislature's LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus.

The bill would have:

  • prevented courts from considering the abduction of a child from a parent who has legal custody "if the taking or retention was for obtaining gender-affirming health care";
  • authorized courts to "take temporary jurisdiction because a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care"; and
  • prevented law enforcement from participating in the "arrest or extradition of an individual pursuant to an out-of-state arrest warrant" based on laws against the sexual mutilation of children.

Republican state Rep. Rachel Henderson warned, "This gives the state jurisdiction to effectively come into your home and take your kids based on a medical decision you made for the well-being and mental well-being of your child."

Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Lui stressed to Blaze News that LD 1735 was a "sex trafficker's dream come true."

Lui previously indicated that an early death for LD 1735 was critical, as the Democrat-controlled state House and Senate would likely pass the bill if given the chance. That opportunity was wrested away from them Thursday.

State Rep. Katrina Smith, a Republican on the judiciary committee who has been critical of the bill, confirmed the result of the successful 12-0 vote, telling 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," added Smith.

Shawn McBreairty, a parental rights activist who campaigned against the bill, said its defeat was a "massive win for parental rights all over our nation."

"This is not Tennessee or Indiana or Oklahoma," Lui stressed. "This was 12-0 in Maine."

Lui highlighted that even Democrats who have supported other radical legislation — legalizing abortion at nine months and sex-change surgeries for minors without parental consent — were not able to bring themselves to vote in favor of LD 1735. The parental rights advocate does not credit the bill's fate to a change of heart on the part of the committee members, but rather to their inability to pass it on the sly.

Despite having previously supported the bill, Democrats on the committee retroactively claimed its language was flawed, reported WGME-TV.

While her bill was thwarted Thursday, Osher threatened to keep trying.

"We will make sure that people are protected, that our care providers are protected," Osher told WGME. "Today was a moment where we're not getting that done, but we will get that done."

"The national significance of [the bill's failure] is twofold. First, it's one less state where children who have been lured into the Transgender Cult can go to and risk being trafficked," Lui told Blaze News. "Second, it sends a national message that the emotional blackmail hold the Transgender Cult has over parents is breaking."

Lui, who credited the hard work of his co-founder Jennifer McWilliams, indicated the fight is not over.

"Currently there are 15 states with a Transgender Trafficking Bill (12 legislative bills and 3 by executive order)," said Lui. He indicated his group will now work to "ensure not another state passes a Transgender Trafficking Bill."

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Fight to stop Maine's 'transgender trafficking bill' is coming down to the wire



Parental rights advocates in Maine are campaigning to kill an LGBT activist bill that would allow the state to take custody of children whose families refuse to subject them to sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions. The legislation, LD 1735, would also effectively have Maine disregard the rights of parents in all other states and bar officials from reuniting runaway children supposedly seeking confusion-affirming treatments with their out-of-state families.

While the bill's interstate implications might ultimately set the stage for a battle before the Supreme Court, opponents of Democratic state Rep. Laurie Osher's so-called "Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care" are concerned that multitudes of children will be transmogrified and trafficked in the interim — all ostensibly for the benefit of leftist ideologues, predators, pharmacists, and willing surgeons.

Alvin Lui, president of the parental rights advocacy group Courage is a Habit, stressed to Blaze News this week that there is hope yet to stop LD 1735 from advancing.

If you want to take a chunk out of the Transgender Cult, help us stop this Transgender Trafficking Bill. Take action now, regardless of which state you live in. We provided a fast two-step process, including sample emails. Deadline Wed, Jan 24 to submit your disgust to this\u2026
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Lui indicated the Democrat-controlled state House and Senate will likely pass the bill if given the chance — even though organizations similarly captive to LGBT ideology like the World Health Organization are beginning to openly admit there is a dearth of evidence to support so-called gender-affirming care for children and adolescents.

However, a judiciary committee must first decide to advance LD 1735.

That hearing was initially scheduled for last week but is now set for 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.

"We stopped this bill in Maine last year around this time and they quietly tried to sneak it in this year again. They almost snuck it by us," said Lui. "And we brought a lot of heat."

Lui credits the attention his organization helped direct last week to LD 1735 and the resultant backlash for prompting the delay of the hearing. The official claim was that the hearing was postponed due to bad weather.

"The first reason [for the delay] was that seven days is an eternity online, as you know, in the public, in the political sphere. They're hoping that at least 1,000 stories will distract people by the time it comes around again," said Lui. "Secondly, it gives them time to reach out to the transgender hordes to give them some cover. Get emails from these transgender cults so that they look like they have support from places like EqualityMaine, which is the most radical transgender cult organization."

While advocates for the bill might be better positioned this week, so are its opponents.

Courage is a Habit, conservatives, and concerned parents in the state previously faced a squeeze when attempting to get the word out. The delay has, however, provided them with ample runway to get a concerted pressure campaign off the ground.

The parental rights group has been imploring Americans in and outside Maine to seize this last opportunity to advise the committee members — state Sens. Eric Brakey (R), Anne Carney (D), and Donna Bailey (D) and Reps. Matt Moonen (D), Amy Kuhn (D), Adam Lee (D), Stephen Moriarty (D), and Erin Sheehan (D) — against giving their blessings to legislation that might separate countless children from their parents over a "social contagion."

Courage is a Habit has simplified things by providing sample opposition letters and the email addresses of committee members on its website. Messages can be sent until Thursday, but Lui indicated that unless sent by Wednesday evening, it is unlikely they'll be read.

LD 1735 resembles similar laws and executive orders in several other states, which have been characterized as a "kidnapping" bills. Lui alternatively figures LD 1735 for a "transgender trafficking bill."

In addition to pushing confused children into the foster care system where their parents will be precluded from rescuing them, Lui suggested the bill would lead to interstate trafficking — by strangers who want to ferry kids to Maine for irreversible surgeries and for strangers who want to abduct kids on the pretense of ferrying them to Maine for such interventions.

"Schools have already told these kids that their parents are unsafe and abusive and that their parents 'don't love you and that they're out to hurt you because they don't see you for who you really are,'" said Lui. "Because they've already set the kids up to look at other people as their family, think about how easy it will be for a sex trafficker to go up to a girl, 14, 15, 16, 13, whatever, and say, 'I see you for who you are.' Call them by their right pronoun. Get them the right clothes. And say, 'I'll take you to Maine so that you can get the health care that you need. ... I'm your family now.'"

"This bill is a sex trafficker's dream come true," added Lui.

In the absence of criticism or pressure, Lui suggested the Democratic committee members might support LD 1735 reflexively because it comports with one of what he regards as the Democratic Party's animating theorems: critical race theory and queer theory. However, he intimated Democrats are unlikely to be so automatic and uncritical in cosigning the "trafficking bill" in the face of significant public outcry, hence his hope for critical mass in the pressure campaign under way.

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