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As Maine legislators consider a raft of bills that would restrict, or even eliminate, the rights of transgender Mainers, they should consider a simple standard: All means all.
The word “all” appears frequently in the foundational documents of the United States and Maine.
The Declaration of Independence, for example, posits: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The U.S. Constitution says, in the 14th Amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The Maine Constitution begins with these words: “All people are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.”
Even the Pledge of Allegiance, recited by schoolchildren across the country, ends with: “liberty and justice for all.”
Through the course of our nation’s nearly 250 year history, America has often fallen far short of ensuring and protecting liberty and justice for all. But, for more than a century, our country and state have moved closer to protecting the rights of all, toward inclusion and equity. It is only in recent decades that there’s been a move backward, to strip some people — often members of the LGBTQ+ community — of their basic rights.
That diminishment of rights has accelerated under President Donald Trump.
Now, members of the Maine Legislature are considering taking rights away from transgender Mainers. They are considering a bill that would threaten all civil rights of transgender Mainers by removing gender identity from the Maine Human Rights Act. They are considering taking away the right to gender-affirming care. And, on the topic that has driven President Trump’s harassment of the state, they are considering numerous bills that would bar transgender athletes from girls’ school sports teams, along with bills to bar transgender people from women’s bathrooms and shelters.
Just because the president has decreed that there are only two genders, a notion contradicted by science, many Republicans, and a few Democrats, want to change the state’s policies regarding transgender Mainers, especially athletes. Currently, the Maine Principal’s Association, which oversees and coordinates high school sports, allows transgender athletes to participate in girls sports. It says there are currently two transgender girls who do so, out of about 45,000 high school athletes in Maine. This policy is in line with the Maine Human Rights Act.
As dozens of high school athletes, students and parents testified earlier this month, sports should be about acceptance, teamwork and participation, not just winning, and certainly not exclusion.
A smaller number testified that allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports is unfair and unsafe.
If those who make such claims truly cared about fairness and safety in women’s sports, they would have long ago spoken out about and advocated for changes in the hugely unfair disparities in pay for professional female and male athletes. They would have advocated to increase athletic participation options for female athletes, who still have far fewer opportunities to join teams, despite the requirements of Title IX. And, most important, they would have worked to stop the horrific and all too prevalent abuse of female athletes.
Decisions on the bills under consideration in Augusta come down to a simple question for lawmakers. Do they believe the words of our nation’s foundational documents? Do they believe all means all? If our nation’s and state’s long-standing civil rights protections apply only to people who are like you, it is only a matter of time before those rights may be challenged for other groups, perhaps even ones you belong to.
These bills should be rejected.
