Everyone knew his identity, he was standing on an awards podium at the center of attention and his name was announced over the loudspeaker and published in official results and newspapers 🤦🏼
You just don't want the extent of the issue being public knowledge. That's wrong.
Trans rights are NOT the issue. The issue is does a president have the right to “pick” what laws to obey. He is sworn to uphold the law, as is our governor. One of them is doing that. There is a right way and a wrong way to change a law.
The law is Title IX, and the executive has always taken great liberties with how to interpret and enforce it. I don't agree with that, but what they are doing now is not new at all.
Governor Mills declared her intention to obey all Federal and state laws. Trump clearly stated that if Maine does not accept and abide by HIS interpretation of the law about kids sports he will see that the State of Maine loses ALL Federal funding. Interpreting the laws is the provenance of the courts and the power of the purse belongs to Congress. So- now tell me who is taking great liberties with the law and their oath of office.
Janet Mills is not following Title IX, which is a federal law. Are you not familiar with the 1984 Chevron decision? (which has just been struck down, fortunately.) You act like the executive branch HASN'T been taking wide liberties in interpreting law for the past several decades. Are you just now waking up?
Hi, Philip. Our Governor is not a nut; she has made a long career of being a fighter for our best interests in Maine (whether I have agreed with her on her actions or not). This is not her Alamo, this is not her first rodeo and this sure as heck is not the first time she has successfully stood up to someone who seeks to break our laws. It's a huge jump (an hysterical overreach) to go from upholding state and federal laws, to "trampling women's rights to be recognized in sports." Sen. Golden kinda surprised me here with his well-thought-out comments here. Maybe give them another read?
I agree. Fairness to all the female members of a sports team has to outweigh the purported unfairness to one person with a male body who prefers not to compete with other men. Maybe they need "a league of their own"?
Do you even know any Maine boys? I NEVER met one who would say he was really a girl just so he could be the captain of the girls volleyball team. We are talking about children and adolescents here. They certainly could benefit as much from role models who show empathy, consideration for others who might have issues they don’t understand and sportsmanship as from bigotry and hate. But the bottom line is that Mills said, “I’m going to obey the state and federal laws” and Trump said I dare you to try!
It doesn't seem you read my comment closely. It does not regard Maine boys, it regards Maine adolescents born male who now identify as female--they insist they aren't boys; which is fine by me. I don't object to regarding them as female if that is what they need. I just don't think the equities favor them if they want to compete in sports with others who did not have the physical advantages (size, strength, etc) of being born male. No doubt there may be some sports where the difference is not significant, but then why segregate men and women practicing those sports at all? If the sports are segregated for good reason (eg, basketball, swimming, track), the physical attributes of a male body competing against a bunch of female bodies does not sound like fair play to me.
I did read your comment. I will say again an adolescent boy will not “pretend” to be a girl just to win a game. These people are not “faking it”- they are being who they truly believe themselves to be and it is not “all in their head”. Girls have ALWAYS competed on an uneven playing field and might as well learn that early. Games should be about teamwork and sportsmanship. If you really care about the future of our young women then help them get even footing in the sciences and STEM fields that will be the dominant careers of the future. Let’s all just support and uplift ALL children. They are our future!
From what I've seen recently, recognizing the prowess of female athletes should be a no-brainer, with so many outstanding individuals and teams at all different levels. What tramples on women's rights to be recognized in sports is surely discrimination in pay and opportunities for broadcast exposure, rather than some small percentage of trans individuals supposedly seeking to game the system.
The Governor isn't making trans rights her Alamo, that's the specific fight the President picked. The Governor is rightly making it her Alamo that the President is extorting the state to comply with his wishes or he will withhold funds that have already been appropriated by law. The President is playing for absolute executive control of Maine's funding, he just chose to make his first move on a topic he knew would be controversial and distracting, and the Governor saw right through that.
Our Governor is experienced, intelligent, skilled at law, insulted by the current president, defending Maine and its people, laws and our right not to be bullied by any president who wants to be The Boss of Everyone, and she is not 'making this her Alamo.' No one is trampling women's rights, except possibly people who fear trans people and know nothing about it.
I don't care how you cut it, allowing biological males to compete against women at the high school level is unfair to the biological females and ludicrous.
It has nothing to do with being transphobic or not. It is self-evident.
Even the NCAA thinks so.
What is the point in having men's and women's sports?
Just have one big sport for all, and best of luck to you.
If I were a female high school athlete, and I had to compete against biological males in a female-only sport, I would be big-time upset, as would anyone.
Conflating an obvious issue to make it fit with one's Trump-derangement-syndrome is just gaslighting.
Perhaps this eventuality should have been considered by the State Congress before passing such a ridiculous law.
Do you even know any Maine boys? I NEVER met one who would say he was really a girl just so he could be the captain of the girls volleyball team. We are talking about children and adolescents here. They certainly could benefit as much from role models who show empathy, consideration for others who might have issues they don’t understand and sportsmanship as from bigotry and hate. But the bottom line is that Mills said, “I’m going to obey the state and federalist laws” and Trump said I dare you to try!
Be careful in oversimplifying the biology of sex. Very little in biology, or in any science, for that matter, can be pared down to a simple dichotomy, but dichotomies in language are the fuel for polarization, the scourge of our time. Please do use caution in what fuel you spread. And yes, push back HARD on the tax nonsense. People whose income is largely from investment already have a giant tax break compared to the vast majority of us whose labour is taxed more highly. Thanks for keeping a close eye on this, and thinking about Mainers needs for healthcare and tax relief.
It is ABSOLUTELY wrong for Representative Laurel Libby to put this child athlete out there based on their trans status. No excuses - no exceptions. She has placed a target on this student for hate, bullying and potential violence.
There are much bigger issues currently going on that trans athletes. Trump's threats to withhold federal funding is illegal and bullying of the highest order.
And it appears she also pointed this out (snitched) to the T administration which will now cause unnecessary, time-consuming, taxpayer paid investigations and lawsuits that will harm citizens through funding cuts that are illegal. Executive orders are not laws, and they know it, but are willing to put citizens through misery for their own gain.
We can all email her at Laurel.Libby@legislature.maine.gov and tell her how we feel. It has little to do with the underlying issue as much as it has to do with the abject calling out of a child to be bullied and potentially physically harmed.
But consider getting in touch with your Maine Rep. and the House Speaker and calling for investigation and censure. (Keeping in mind, there has been outreach to Libby's victim and family as to their wishes.) Fecteau is really one of the Maine good guys.
Search for Warren Buffet's comment on paying income taxes (paraphrasing from memory here): that if all corporations paid the tax they owed on their net income (currently 21%), as he and his companies do, no one else would have to pay income tax.
(Let that sink in... and let it be known and repeated often to affect and change the narrative we've been fed for so long. Corporations pay for laws (and loopholes) that allow them evade or avoid paying what they owe).
Exactly. In the 50’s corporations were even paying more. That is how are roads , infrastructure and buildings were built then Along came Reagan . I am 80 and I could see the change.Musk, South Africa immigration became wealthy because of the subsidies from the US gov. So why is he still getting subsidies? He should be paying his fair share of taxes along with the other oligarchs . If I was an oligarchs I would want to share posterity in the country that helped me to be great. This is what my god in the Catholic Church taught me in the 50’s. I was a cradle catholic. I don’t need someone like Vance to tell me his made up version of the Catholic Church teachings. Vance and Trump are the anti christ. That is being kind. I have had it. Musk should not be any where near the WH. Is is there for only one reason to enrich himself off us and take the money and run and leave us with nothing. How can the republicans sell us out? This must stop now.
I agree the republicans want to gut healthcare so rich can pay less taxes. Enough is enough how rich do you need? How many yachts do you need and how many more facelifts does Jeff Bezos ‘s girlfriend need. The rich have been getting richer because they keep getting to pay less taxes while the middle class is making less. Social security has not had a raise for 50 years but the rich keep getting tax cuts.
Thank you for a very balanced and respectful perspective. I agree completely that dignity and respect are due to all but biology is real. Making so many people angry is not working and you are clearly listening to their concerns and responding very well.
The sacred truth is that there are biological differences between male and female, and to deny that is an injustice to the vast majority of people who are not confused about who and what they are.
Thank you for both your positions. Giving all Americans the facts about where tax money comes from and where it goes is vital to making sound fiscal decisions.The GOP is lying.
Thank you for separating the transgender issue into its component parts: first, Trump's illegal assertion of executive power over legislative areas is unconstitutional and Mills was correct to have stood up to him. The issue of transgenderism doesn't not belong in the political realm and Laurel Libby was morally wrong to post what she did. That being said, your suggestion seems to make sense and also be legal. My opinion: human characteristics are on a continuum - look at height, weight, hair color, eye color. Sexuality and gender are also human characteristics so why should they come in only two types? Doesn't make sense to me.
Regarding the Republican's budget plan, yes, please fight like hell. The health care consequences are draconian, and no civilized society should pick our pockets and compromise our wellbeing to fill the coffers of billionaires. Please do some town hall meetings and tell us directly what can be done, what you are going to do.
Regarding transgender athletes, I'm struck that the article you chose to spotlight is far from definitive. Small numbers of study subjects is a problem with all research on transgender athletes' performance, and therefore any study should be regarded provisionally. In addition, I'm suspicious of a research article that conflates human data with "cultured human cell" and animal data to support a "muscle memory theory" that advances the author's conclusions. Here's an article with a different take: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10795902/ (copy and paste in browser). We must stay openminded and humble regarding our ignorance. And we should not base public policy on an n of 1.
Last, Laurel Libby's behavior was reprehensible and unleashed a firestorm of misinformation and misplaced outrage. Governor Mills was correct to challenge His Rudeness. The issue is whether we will obey our own laws, or let a self-described "King" dictate to us. We threw off a king in 1775 and we need to do it again.
I appreciate your defense of Mainers and others who are on Medicare and Medicade. Many citizens in Congressional District 2 would be hurt by the Republican efforts to defund health care. I also appreciate your efforts to stop the Republican efforts to give the wealthiest a tax break they do not need nor deserve.
Considering transgender youth, it is despicable that the President is using them as a tool to inflame people. As you said, their should be protected. What happened to the Republican concern for States Rights? Shouldn't individual states have the right to follow their own laws?
There's a new book coming out in a couple of months: Sex Is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary, by Agustín Fuentes. I have no wish to shill for the publisher, but anyone who is interested can easily find out more about the book and how to obtain it.
Blurb: "Why human biology is far more expansive than the simple categories of female and male," and "...Fuentes tackles hot-button debates around sports and medicine, explaining why we can acknowledge that females and males are not the same while also embracing a biocultural reality where none of us fits neatly into only one of two categories.
Bringing clarity and reason to a contentious issue, Sex Is a Spectrum shares a scientist’s perspective on why a binary view of sex and gender is not only misguided but harmful, and why there are multitudes of ways of being human."
Mr Golden's comments in this post of his give me hope that he will be open to learning more about biological realities, and about the way in which human realities likewise are rarely if ever as clearcut and simple as some people wish to believe.
It is also wrong for a legislator to publicly identify and possibly victimize a transgender athlete. She has put this athlete and family in danger.
Everyone knew his identity, he was standing on an awards podium at the center of attention and his name was announced over the loudspeaker and published in official results and newspapers 🤦🏼
You just don't want the extent of the issue being public knowledge. That's wrong.
Our governor is a nut to make this her Alamo.
Trans kids deserve respect and acceptance.
But trampling women's rights to be recognized in sports isn't the way.
Trans rights are NOT the issue. The issue is does a president have the right to “pick” what laws to obey. He is sworn to uphold the law, as is our governor. One of them is doing that. There is a right way and a wrong way to change a law.
The law is Title IX, and the executive has always taken great liberties with how to interpret and enforce it. I don't agree with that, but what they are doing now is not new at all.
Governor Mills declared her intention to obey all Federal and state laws. Trump clearly stated that if Maine does not accept and abide by HIS interpretation of the law about kids sports he will see that the State of Maine loses ALL Federal funding. Interpreting the laws is the provenance of the courts and the power of the purse belongs to Congress. So- now tell me who is taking great liberties with the law and their oath of office.
Janet Mills is not following Title IX, which is a federal law. Are you not familiar with the 1984 Chevron decision? (which has just been struck down, fortunately.) You act like the executive branch HASN'T been taking wide liberties in interpreting law for the past several decades. Are you just now waking up?
Nope. I’m watching closely as are many Americans and what we see is VERY disturbing. Full stop!
This governor will just have to comply with the law. But she seems quite stubborn and angry.
Hi, Philip. Our Governor is not a nut; she has made a long career of being a fighter for our best interests in Maine (whether I have agreed with her on her actions or not). This is not her Alamo, this is not her first rodeo and this sure as heck is not the first time she has successfully stood up to someone who seeks to break our laws. It's a huge jump (an hysterical overreach) to go from upholding state and federal laws, to "trampling women's rights to be recognized in sports." Sen. Golden kinda surprised me here with his well-thought-out comments here. Maybe give them another read?
I agree. Fairness to all the female members of a sports team has to outweigh the purported unfairness to one person with a male body who prefers not to compete with other men. Maybe they need "a league of their own"?
Do you even know any Maine boys? I NEVER met one who would say he was really a girl just so he could be the captain of the girls volleyball team. We are talking about children and adolescents here. They certainly could benefit as much from role models who show empathy, consideration for others who might have issues they don’t understand and sportsmanship as from bigotry and hate. But the bottom line is that Mills said, “I’m going to obey the state and federal laws” and Trump said I dare you to try!
It doesn't seem you read my comment closely. It does not regard Maine boys, it regards Maine adolescents born male who now identify as female--they insist they aren't boys; which is fine by me. I don't object to regarding them as female if that is what they need. I just don't think the equities favor them if they want to compete in sports with others who did not have the physical advantages (size, strength, etc) of being born male. No doubt there may be some sports where the difference is not significant, but then why segregate men and women practicing those sports at all? If the sports are segregated for good reason (eg, basketball, swimming, track), the physical attributes of a male body competing against a bunch of female bodies does not sound like fair play to me.
I did read your comment. I will say again an adolescent boy will not “pretend” to be a girl just to win a game. These people are not “faking it”- they are being who they truly believe themselves to be and it is not “all in their head”. Girls have ALWAYS competed on an uneven playing field and might as well learn that early. Games should be about teamwork and sportsmanship. If you really care about the future of our young women then help them get even footing in the sciences and STEM fields that will be the dominant careers of the future. Let’s all just support and uplift ALL children. They are our future!
Yeah. And exactly what is a "male body"? A linebacker or a jockey?
It is obvious when showering in the locker room!
From what I've seen recently, recognizing the prowess of female athletes should be a no-brainer, with so many outstanding individuals and teams at all different levels. What tramples on women's rights to be recognized in sports is surely discrimination in pay and opportunities for broadcast exposure, rather than some small percentage of trans individuals supposedly seeking to game the system.
The Governor isn't making trans rights her Alamo, that's the specific fight the President picked. The Governor is rightly making it her Alamo that the President is extorting the state to comply with his wishes or he will withhold funds that have already been appropriated by law. The President is playing for absolute executive control of Maine's funding, he just chose to make his first move on a topic he knew would be controversial and distracting, and the Governor saw right through that.
https://wgme.com/news/local/transgender-athlete-controversy-in-maine-sparks-national-debate
Our Governor is experienced, intelligent, skilled at law, insulted by the current president, defending Maine and its people, laws and our right not to be bullied by any president who wants to be The Boss of Everyone, and she is not 'making this her Alamo.' No one is trampling women's rights, except possibly people who fear trans people and know nothing about it.
I don't care how you cut it, allowing biological males to compete against women at the high school level is unfair to the biological females and ludicrous.
It has nothing to do with being transphobic or not. It is self-evident.
Even the NCAA thinks so.
What is the point in having men's and women's sports?
Just have one big sport for all, and best of luck to you.
If I were a female high school athlete, and I had to compete against biological males in a female-only sport, I would be big-time upset, as would anyone.
Conflating an obvious issue to make it fit with one's Trump-derangement-syndrome is just gaslighting.
Perhaps this eventuality should have been considered by the State Congress before passing such a ridiculous law.
John Covell-
Do you even know any Maine boys? I NEVER met one who would say he was really a girl just so he could be the captain of the girls volleyball team. We are talking about children and adolescents here. They certainly could benefit as much from role models who show empathy, consideration for others who might have issues they don’t understand and sportsmanship as from bigotry and hate. But the bottom line is that Mills said, “I’m going to obey the state and federalist laws” and Trump said I dare you to try!
https://wgme.com/news/local/transgender-athlete-controversy-in-maine-sparks-national-debate
Be careful in oversimplifying the biology of sex. Very little in biology, or in any science, for that matter, can be pared down to a simple dichotomy, but dichotomies in language are the fuel for polarization, the scourge of our time. Please do use caution in what fuel you spread. And yes, push back HARD on the tax nonsense. People whose income is largely from investment already have a giant tax break compared to the vast majority of us whose labour is taxed more highly. Thanks for keeping a close eye on this, and thinking about Mainers needs for healthcare and tax relief.
It is ABSOLUTELY wrong for Representative Laurel Libby to put this child athlete out there based on their trans status. No excuses - no exceptions. She has placed a target on this student for hate, bullying and potential violence.
There are much bigger issues currently going on that trans athletes. Trump's threats to withhold federal funding is illegal and bullying of the highest order.
And it appears she also pointed this out (snitched) to the T administration which will now cause unnecessary, time-consuming, taxpayer paid investigations and lawsuits that will harm citizens through funding cuts that are illegal. Executive orders are not laws, and they know it, but are willing to put citizens through misery for their own gain.
We can all email her at Laurel.Libby@legislature.maine.gov and tell her how we feel. It has little to do with the underlying issue as much as it has to do with the abject calling out of a child to be bullied and potentially physically harmed.
Libby will use our outrage to 'own the libs.'
But consider getting in touch with your Maine Rep. and the House Speaker and calling for investigation and censure. (Keeping in mind, there has been outreach to Libby's victim and family as to their wishes.) Fecteau is really one of the Maine good guys.
ryan.fecteau@legislature.maine.gov
Contact: (207) 287-1300
Thanks. I'll do that.
Search for Warren Buffet's comment on paying income taxes (paraphrasing from memory here): that if all corporations paid the tax they owed on their net income (currently 21%), as he and his companies do, no one else would have to pay income tax.
(Let that sink in... and let it be known and repeated often to affect and change the narrative we've been fed for so long. Corporations pay for laws (and loopholes) that allow them evade or avoid paying what they owe).
Exactly. In the 50’s corporations were even paying more. That is how are roads , infrastructure and buildings were built then Along came Reagan . I am 80 and I could see the change.Musk, South Africa immigration became wealthy because of the subsidies from the US gov. So why is he still getting subsidies? He should be paying his fair share of taxes along with the other oligarchs . If I was an oligarchs I would want to share posterity in the country that helped me to be great. This is what my god in the Catholic Church taught me in the 50’s. I was a cradle catholic. I don’t need someone like Vance to tell me his made up version of the Catholic Church teachings. Vance and Trump are the anti christ. That is being kind. I have had it. Musk should not be any where near the WH. Is is there for only one reason to enrich himself off us and take the money and run and leave us with nothing. How can the republicans sell us out? This must stop now.
Well said!
I agree the republicans want to gut healthcare so rich can pay less taxes. Enough is enough how rich do you need? How many yachts do you need and how many more facelifts does Jeff Bezos ‘s girlfriend need. The rich have been getting richer because they keep getting to pay less taxes while the middle class is making less. Social security has not had a raise for 50 years but the rich keep getting tax cuts.
Enough, people have had it.
Thank you for a very balanced and respectful perspective. I agree completely that dignity and respect are due to all but biology is real. Making so many people angry is not working and you are clearly listening to their concerns and responding very well.
I agree, Trumps policy's and his disdain for sacred truth's are appalling, his injustice to all must stop.
The sacred truth is that there are biological differences between male and female, and to deny that is an injustice to the vast majority of people who are not confused about who and what they are.
Maybe 'civic truths' are more appropriate to a secular society
Thank you for both your positions. Giving all Americans the facts about where tax money comes from and where it goes is vital to making sound fiscal decisions.The GOP is lying.
Thank you for separating the transgender issue into its component parts: first, Trump's illegal assertion of executive power over legislative areas is unconstitutional and Mills was correct to have stood up to him. The issue of transgenderism doesn't not belong in the political realm and Laurel Libby was morally wrong to post what she did. That being said, your suggestion seems to make sense and also be legal. My opinion: human characteristics are on a continuum - look at height, weight, hair color, eye color. Sexuality and gender are also human characteristics so why should they come in only two types? Doesn't make sense to me.
Regarding the Republican's budget plan, yes, please fight like hell. The health care consequences are draconian, and no civilized society should pick our pockets and compromise our wellbeing to fill the coffers of billionaires. Please do some town hall meetings and tell us directly what can be done, what you are going to do.
Regarding transgender athletes, I'm struck that the article you chose to spotlight is far from definitive. Small numbers of study subjects is a problem with all research on transgender athletes' performance, and therefore any study should be regarded provisionally. In addition, I'm suspicious of a research article that conflates human data with "cultured human cell" and animal data to support a "muscle memory theory" that advances the author's conclusions. Here's an article with a different take: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10795902/ (copy and paste in browser). We must stay openminded and humble regarding our ignorance. And we should not base public policy on an n of 1.
Last, Laurel Libby's behavior was reprehensible and unleashed a firestorm of misinformation and misplaced outrage. Governor Mills was correct to challenge His Rudeness. The issue is whether we will obey our own laws, or let a self-described "King" dictate to us. We threw off a king in 1775 and we need to do it again.
I appreciate your defense of Mainers and others who are on Medicare and Medicade. Many citizens in Congressional District 2 would be hurt by the Republican efforts to defund health care. I also appreciate your efforts to stop the Republican efforts to give the wealthiest a tax break they do not need nor deserve.
Considering transgender youth, it is despicable that the President is using them as a tool to inflame people. As you said, their should be protected. What happened to the Republican concern for States Rights? Shouldn't individual states have the right to follow their own laws?
There's a new book coming out in a couple of months: Sex Is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary, by Agustín Fuentes. I have no wish to shill for the publisher, but anyone who is interested can easily find out more about the book and how to obtain it.
Blurb: "Why human biology is far more expansive than the simple categories of female and male," and "...Fuentes tackles hot-button debates around sports and medicine, explaining why we can acknowledge that females and males are not the same while also embracing a biocultural reality where none of us fits neatly into only one of two categories.
Bringing clarity and reason to a contentious issue, Sex Is a Spectrum shares a scientist’s perspective on why a binary view of sex and gender is not only misguided but harmful, and why there are multitudes of ways of being human."
Mr Golden's comments in this post of his give me hope that he will be open to learning more about biological realities, and about the way in which human realities likewise are rarely if ever as clearcut and simple as some people wish to believe.
Rep. Libby does not deserve to serve the State of Maine.
Why aren't you holding townhalls, Jared?
Here’s my shocked face that you would side with republicans instead of protecting trans kids 😑
🦕
You and the MAGA folks have something in common: you don't do nuance. It's my way or the highway.
Spot on, Jared! Keep up the good fight.
Keep up the good work and keep the pressure on! Jim Huning