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Gov. LePage Joins Lawsuit Over Obama's Transgender Directive

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R)
youtube.com/File
Maine Governor Paul LePage (R)

Governor Paul LePage has signed onto a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s guidance around bathroom rights for trangender students. Ten states are challenging the directive to public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. The governor’s position also appears to be contrary to Maine law as the Maine Attorney General’s Office says LePage has over-stepped his bounds.

The ten states that filed the lawsuit are Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Utah, Georgia, and Arizona. Governor Paul LePage also joined the lawsuit, which argues that the Obama Administration is turning “educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights.”

“The Obama administration is continuously wreckless with its over-reach on states,” says Adrienne Bennett spokeswoman for Governor LePage.

She says the governor filed the lawsuit on his own behalf. Attorney General Janet Mills reiterated that fact in a written statement saying the state of Maine is not a party to the lawsuit. But Mills goes on to say that only the Attorney General can join or give permission to join any litigation on the state’s behalf, and she says she has not approved that in this case. Mills also says that LePage’s position is contrary to the settled law of the state of Maine.

“The governor is certainly entitled to have an opinion,” says Amy Snierson, executive director of the Maine Human Rights Commission. “Our job is to enforce the law as written.”“

Snierson points out that the Maine legislature amended the Maine Human Rights Act in 2005 to extend civil rights protections to all people, regardless of sexual orientation. The Commission intended to draft rules for its implementation but chose to wait while a lawsuit involving a transgender student worked its way through the courts. Then in 2014, the Maine Supreme Court ruled in favor of Nicole Maines, who sued her school district over access to the girls’ bathroom. The Commission attempted to resume rulemaking, but the LePage administration would not sign off on the process, so the Commission issued guidelines for schools to use when regarding transgender students instead.

“The law court was very clear, and I don’t think there’s much dispute at this point in Maine that a student who consistently expresses their gender identity is entitled to use the facilities that are consistent with that identity,” Snierson says. “I think most schools in Maine are not arguing that point.”

Though state law may be clear, the fact that Governor LePage joined the lawsuit is deeply concerning to Alison Beyea, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine

“The Governor is really trying to rollback equality that’s been in place for years here in Maine, and to legalize discrimination,” says Beyea. “He’s ignoring the will of Maine people, and he has no place interfering in other states’ litigation.”“

LePage’s spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett says that for now, the Department of Education will continue to implement state law as it’s written.

CLICK to view the lawsuit document.

MPBN reporter Steve Mistler contributed to this story.