President Donald Trump’s fight with Maine changes phases on Thursday, when lawmakers will hold hearings in Augusta on Republican-led bills that would bar transgender girls from competing in sports according to gender identity.
That issue led to a sharp February exchange between the Republican president and Gov. Janet Mills, federal funding threats against Maine and a lawsuit against the state from the Trump administration. But the bills go beyond sports, with one of them removing gender identity protections from the Maine Human Rights Act altogether.
Many of the same socially conservative groups that fought a Democratic-led abortion expansion that got a 19-hour hearing in 2023 are motivated on this issue. LGBTQ-rights groups should also have a big presence in the State House for the hearings beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Follow this link to watch the hearings. The Judiciary Committee’s clerk announced Tuesday that lawmakers would take testimony in three blocks with the aim of finishing up by 7 p.m or so. It will start with people testifying for the bills and then move to opponents later in the day.
