Maine Republican who posted photos of trans student sues state House speaker over censure
A Republican state lawmaker in Maine is suing her House Speaker and clerk over a recent vote by the Democratic-led body to censure her for posting photos of a minor on social media in protest of the state’s refusal to comply with President Trump's executive order on transgender athletes.
State Rep. Laurel Libby announced the lawsuit against Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D) and House Clerk Robert B. Hunt Tuesday on the OutKick.com podcast “Gaines for Girls.”
“I don’t believe that the speaker of the House has the constitutional authority to strip my voice and my vote,” Libby told host Riley Gaines, a conservative activist who campaigns against the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. “My constituents don’t have any representation in the state House.”
Libby was barred from voting and speaking on the House floor late last month when lawmakers voted 75-70 along party lines to censure her for a Feb. 17 Facebook post. Libby had posted a transgender high school student’s photos, name and deadname — the name they used before transitioning — without the student’s consent after they won a girls’ track and field championship event in the state.
She said the post was her way of protesting the Pine Tree State's noncompliance with President Trump’s executive order to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Maine officials, including the governor and attorney general, have said the order conflicts with state anti-discrimination laws that include gender identity protections.
A censure resolution introduced by Fecteau called Libby’s actions “reprehensible” and accused her of using the student’s name and image “to advance her political agenda.” Libby argued ahead of the Feb. 26 censure vote that the resolution was unjustified because the photos she posted, which show the student at two indoor track meets, were from public events.
Under the terms of the censure, Libby may not speak or vote on legislation until she apologizes for the post, which she has said she has no plans of doing.
“I won’t apologize for speaking the truth,” she said Tuesday, “but I think it is incumbent upon me to do everything that I can to get [my constituents’] voice and vote back.”
“And so, we have sued in federal court, and we are looking to resolve this through the courts since it seems that the speaker has no intention of being reasonable,” Libby said. She accused House Democrats of skirting the state constitution by moving to censure rather than expel her, which would have required a two-thirds majority vote.
“We’ll see where this goes in the courts, but that is, I think, of paramount importance, to get my constituents’ voice back,” she said.
Libby’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, argues Fecteau and House Democrats acted unconstitutionally when they voted to censure her, disenfranchising her roughly 9,000 constituents “in retaliation for protected speech on a highly important and hotly debated matter of public concern.”
“The heavy-handed, partisan actions violate the First Amendment and the Equal Protection, Due Process, and Guarantee Clauses of the U.S. Constitution,” the lawsuit states.
A spokesperson for Fecteau declined to comment on the complaint. Hunt, the House clerk named in Libby’s lawsuit, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Maine, controlled by a Democratic trifecta since 2019, has found itself at the center of the debate over transgender athletes by refusing to comply with Trump’s order. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills sparred with Trump last month at the White House after the president threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine.
“See you in court,” Mills responded.
Four days later, the Department of Health and Human Serivces's Office for Civil Rights said Maine’s education department violated federal law by allowing transgender student-athletes to compete on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
On Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture said it had paused funding for University of Maine System schools.
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