Maine Rep Laurel Libby condemns Gov Janet Mills over response to DOJ trans athlete lawsuit

Maine Gov. Janet Mills released a statement justifying the state's enabling of trans athletes in girls' sports on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state over the issue. 

Mills' response included a sentence that read, "I have fought tirelessly for the rights of women and girls, for the health and well-being of children and families." 

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Prominent GOP state representative Laurel Libby has spoken out against Mills for including mention of the sentence in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

"Let me be clear, Governor Janet Mills’ claim that she has always stood up for the rights of women and girls in Maine is completely false. The Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Maine for refusing to comply with Title IX is proof of that, as it would not exist if she had. Her insistence that this issue has nothing to do with biological males in girls' sports is not only baseless—it’s absurd," Libby said. 

"This isn't about states’ rights, as she claims; it’s about Governor Mills and Maine Democrats pushing far-left ideologies that ignore biological reality. By disregarding Title IX, they’ve discriminated against and endangered women and girls, and put Maine students and families at a disadvantage. Frankly, by promoting policies that erase the identities of women and girls in Maine, it’s hard to believe even Governor Mills believes what she’s saying." 

MAINE GOV JANET MILLS RESPONDS TO DOJ LAWSUIT AGAINST HER STATE OVER TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS' SPORTS

Libby, who was at Wednesday's press conference where U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the lawsuit, has been one of Mills' harshest critics over the last two months as the state has refused to comply with President Donald Trump's Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports executive order. After Trump signed the order on Feb. 5, Maine was one of the earliest states to show its intent not to comply with it. 

Libby brought attention to the state's ongoing trans inclusion policies when she made a social media post that identified a biologically male trans athlete who won a girls' pole vault competition for Greely High School in mid-February.

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Since the post, two federal agencies have launched investigations into the state. The Department of Agriculture has frozen funding to it, and now an official lawsuit by the DOJ has been filed. Maine has filed its own lawsuit against the Trump administration over the funding freeze and a federal judge has ruled the funding must be unfrozen.

Meanwhile, Libby was censured by the Democrat majority in the Maine House of Representatives for her social media post on the premise that she identified a minor. Libby has since sued House Speaker Ryan Fecteau to have the censure overturned, arguing that the minor she identified had already been publicized in other media.

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