Send a message to the Judiciary Committee. Urge them to Oppose LD 1735, An Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care!
On Friday, May 12, 2023, the Maine Judiciary Committee will be hearing one of the most destructive bills of the session.
This bill supersedes the authority of parents or guardians to the point of removal, prohibits compliance with laws in other states and bans Maine from cooperating with law enforcement or the courts of other states. These extraordinary measures are specific to instances of so-called “gender-affirming care,” also known as transgender surgery or services. Specifically, the bill:
- Does not allow Maine to extradite anyone for the purpose of prosecution for violating another state’s ban on child gender transition. It also requires that Maine would not cooperate with any other state’s investigations into possible violations of such laws.
- It removes the rights of parents and gives the State temporary emergency jurisdiction over minors from other states if they come to Maine for the purpose of undergoing gender transition.
- It allows that anyone (teacher, social worker, coach, or other adult in a child’s life) can remove a child from their parent's custody for the purpose of facilitating gender transition and Maine courts can’t do anything about it.
We need your voice to be heard!
Please fill out the form below and send the Judiciary Committee a note today! And please don't hesitate to write your own message to them. A few of the key facts noted below may be helpful.
- This bill doesn’t help kids, it harms them. Giving kids puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even transgender surgery violates the first duty of Medicine: do no harm. More detailed information about the science behind these treatments can be found HERE.
- This bill supersedes parents’ rights. If a kid is not old enough to get a tattoo, go to a tanning salon or buy cough syrup over the counter, why would we permit them to make their own decisions regarding life-altering hormones and drastic surgeries? This bill completely removes a parent's right to care for, provide guidance and even maintain custody of their child while sanctioning what is essentially kidnapping by another adult to help facilitate gender transition.
- This bill makes refusal to provide or allow gender-affirming care the same as abuse and mistreatment. Current law allows the state to take jurisdiction of a child who is “subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse” but the new bill proposes to add, “or because the child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.” This puts a parent’s refusal to allow gender-affirming care in the same category as mistreatment or abuse.
- This policy is unconstitutional. States have a constitutional obligation to assist other states in law enforcement matters and parents have rights to guide and care for their children. This bill ignores that duty and is likely illegal as a result.
- This bill would make Maine the most radical sanctuary state for gender surgeries not approved by parents. Maine will join the ranks of California, Oregon, Washington and Minnesota as one of the leading states in the country where adults other than parents can coach kids into gender transition surgeries. It will make Maine a so-called “sanctuary state” for kids (and the adults helping them) who are seeking gender transition services without the permission of their parents.
- This bill legalizes and protects kidnapping in Maine. The bill allows anyone to remove a child from the care of their parents in order to facilitate gender transition surgery, and no court in Maine can do anything about it. This could easily extend to inappropriate adult-child relationships where a non-parent adult is grooming or trafficking the child, and it will provide legal cover for the adult in those instances.
Reach out to the Judiciary Committee today and urge them to OPPOSE LD 1735
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