Maine lawmaker’s speaking rights restored after trans athlete post censure

Maine state representative Laurel Libby had her speaking rights restored by fellow state lawmakers on Wednesday, five months after she was censured for a social media post that identified a trans athlete. 

The Supreme Court restored Libby’s voting rights on May 20 after she filed a lawsuit in response to the censure, but her speaking rights have still been withheld from her until now. Libby was still waging her lawsuit against Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau to have the full censure overturned. 

Libby told Fox News Digital that she walked into the state capital Wednesday unaware that today her speaking rights would be restored, and she didn’t even find out until near the end of the session when she and others were getting ready to adjourn. 

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Just before adjournment, House assistant majority leader Lori Gramlich proposed a resolution that upon adjourning, Libby’s full voting and speaking rights would be restored. The resolution passed by a vote of 115-16. 

“It was a surprise, it was our 33rd supplement of the day, and within minutes it was on the floor,” Libby said. 

Libby’s censure was initially passed on Feb. 25 by a vote of 75-70. Libby said no reason was given for Wednesday’s surprise resolution that ended the censure. But she believes it’s because of the momentum she had in her lawsuit and the growing public opposition against trans athletes in girls’ sports.

“Democrats know that they are losing on this issue, that the majority of not just Mainers, but Americans, do not agree with their extreme stance allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports,” Libby said. “They know they’re losing on that issue, they know that they’re losing in the courts regarding my lawsuit that I filed… and so they caved because they know they’re losing and this is the best way for them to save face.” 

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that requires states only allow females to compete, but multiple Democrat-run states, including Maine, have defied the order and continued to enable trans inclusion. 

The U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi have even filed their own separate lawsuit against the state of Maine for continuing to defy the order. 

Libby has been a central figure in the conservative pushback against Democrat policies that enable trans inclusion in girls’ sports in Maine. In addition to her lawsuit against Fecteau, Libby has been repeatedly critical of Mills for her refusal to comply with Trump. 

It started when she made a Facebook post that identified a trans athlete that won a girls’ pole vault competition for Greely High School in February, prompting pushback from Democrats in the state who criticized her for identifying a minor, which was the main premise of her censure. However, she and her attorneys argued that the trans athlete had already been publicized in other media. 

The same trans athlete then skipped the spring track and field state championships earlier in June. 

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A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said that school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.”

Many Maine residents have even entire school districts have stood up against Mills’ policies alongside Libby. Maine’s school districts RSU No. 24 and MSAD No. 70 have each passed their own localized resolutions to keep girls’ spots for female students only. There have also been three large-scale protests against the current policies in the state’s capital city, Augusta, since February. 

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