Supporters march and wave signs after a rally in Cumberland, Maine on Sunday, March 23, 2025, calling on Maine lawmakers, and local MSAD51 school officials, to support transgender student athletes. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
Underscoring what advocates see as worsening partisan divide over LGBTQ+ rights, Maine lawmakers voted mostly along party lines on many related bills this session, according to Equality Maine’s annual scorecard, released Tuesday.
The organization tracked how every lawmaker voted on specific legislation targeting transgender youth as well as broader proposals that would impact the LGBTQ+ community or that Equality Maine considers to align with their mission to create an inclusive, intersectional community to advance the rights of LGBTQ+ Mainers. These included bills that fund reproductive health and abortion services, a bill that would prevent children from being doxxed, bills related to public health and gun control, and a bill that sought to prevent the state from being able to seize tribal land for public use.
“Most bills have a connection to our community in some form or fashion,” said Gia Drew, executive director of Equality Maine, emphasizing the importance of tracking a wide range of legislation. According to the organization’s scorecard, most Democrats voted to preserve reproductive health, promote gun reform and reject anti-trans bills.
Most Republicans voted in favor of the eight anti-trans bills introduced this session. These aimed to restrict the rights of students to participate in girls sports teams, access school bathrooms and locker rooms, and use pronouns aligning with their gender identity. Despite a handful of Democrats voting for some of those bills, none passed this session.
In particular, four democrats voted against LD 233, a bill restricting trans athletes’ rights, citing unfair advantages they believe trans girls have over their cis teammates: Reps. Stephan Bunker of Farmington, Wayne Farrin of Jefferson, Dani O’Halloran of Brewer and David Rollins of Augusta. Some of them also voted against their party on some gun control legislation, according to the Equality Maine tracker.
On the Republican side, only Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford opposed these measures and during the floor debate gave an impassioned speech against several of those bills. He has since left the party to run for governor as an independent.
The issue of trans rights in particular has become more political over the past few years, Drew noted. For months, Maine faced scrutiny by the Trump administration for its inclusive trans policies, which Drew said had existed for decades without objection or questioning.
“The national spotlight and some of the local issues related to being trans has really unfortunately polarized the parties,” she said.“Historically, LGBTQ+ rights had more bipartisan support.”
For example, when the Legislature added an amendment to the Maine Human Rights Act in 2005 that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, educational opportunity, credit and public accommodations, it passed with solid bipartisan support, as did a bill supporting marriage equality in 2009.
However, the Equality Maine scorecard did highlight new alignment on the issue of eminent domain. Sponsored by Republican House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor, LD 958, which aimed to preserve tribal rights to land, won over many Republicans who generally were less supportive of previous attempts to provide the Wabanaki Nations greater sovereignty.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, ultimately vetoed the bill, but Drew saw the effort as proof that the Legislature could again find common ground around LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights.
“I’d like to be hopeful that when I see that overlap there’s probably ways we can bridge those differences that remain across parties,” she said.
