A few weeks ago, I posted a letter I wrote to my Maine State Representatives detailing my concerns with LD 678 and LD 930. These bills are attacks on Trans rights in the state of Maine, and since hatred has no place in Maine, I fervently oppose these bills. You can read the full contents of my letter here.
I wanted to share with you the responses I received from my elected representatives. I received a brief but courteous email back from Representative Kimberly Pomerleau of Standish. She stated that at this time, the way the bills are written, she does not support them. While this does not clarify Representative Pomerleau's views on the issues in question, I am relieved to know she will not be voting for these particular hateful bills. I am planning to stay in contact with her should any future anti-LGBTQ bills come up in Maine.
I also received an interesting email response from Senator Jim Libby of Standish. He was impressed that I had taken the time to write him a detailed view of my feelings on the issues. He also said that he was still evaluating the topics of the bills and trying to develop a good understanding of the issues at hand. I appreciated that he had not already made up his mind on the issues and was open to discussion. After several days of emailing back and forth, we were able to set up a zoom call to discuss the issues further.
On our zoom call, Senator Libby and I had a frank and open discussion mostly revolving around LD 930, which deals with the issue of trans women and girls participating in women's sports. We discussed multiple solutions that would maintain fairness while still encouraging people of all genders to compete in sports. Senator Libby was particularly interested in the possibility of a category all-gender sports teams, since he has coached teams featuring both men and women in the past to great success. We acknowledged that it's ok to not have a perfect solution yet, but I reiterated that any solution to this issue cannot come from the desire to exclude people, especially young students, but rather the desire to include everyone. Any bill that singles out elementary school-aged children to be excluded from something so ubiquitous and American as sports cannot be right.
Although Senator Libby did not make a commitment to which way he would vote on this issue, he promised to make my concerns known to the Maine State Senate. He also noted that it was nice to have a conversation that did not feel like an attack. I was very pleased that we were able to approach the conversation as two individuals against the issues, rather than two individuals against each other. The Senator also extended to me an open invitation to visit him at the State House, which I look forward to taking him up on this summer. Although we may have opposing views on many things, I'm looking forward to a productive relationship with Senator Libby where we can discuss the issues that are most important to the people of Maine.
If you are looking to make a Small Change, whether you want to advocate for LGBTQ rights, gun control, education, better infrastructure, or something else near and dear to your heart, I highly encourage you to get in touch with your state representatives. These are the people that you elected specifically to represent the interests of your town at the state level, so they have a vested interest in listening to you if they want to keep their jobs. Building a positive, issues-based relationship with your state representative can help amplify your voice as you advocate for change in your community.
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