When a lawmaker in Maine posted a photo of a male high school athlete winning a girls pole vault state championship, her House colleagues silenced her. Now, she’s taking legal action.
Less than two weeks after Maine Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, posted the photo on Facebook, the Maine House of Representatives voted 75-70 to censure her for posting the photo of the minor, meaning she can no longer speak or vote in the Legislature until she apologizes.
The post included photos of the male athlete from both a boys pole vault competition a couple of years ago and the girls pole vault championship this year. “Two years ago, John tied for 5th place in boys pole vault,” Libby said in the post. “Tonight, ‘Katie’ won 1st place in the girls Maine State Class B Championship.”
Libby told the Daily Signal she will not apologize for the post. She filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Maine Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat, for the censure, claiming it violates her First Amendment right of free speech as well as her equal protection rights and the guarantee clause of Article IV of the Constitution, which protects the basic rights of political participation within state governments.
“I have the constitutional right to speak out, and my constituents have the right to full representation in the Maine House,” Libby said in a statement shared with The Daily Signal. “Biological males have no place in girls sports. Our girls have every right, under federal law, to fair competition in sports. We will not let them be erased by the Democrat majority advancing a woke progressive agenda.”
Fecteau told Libby after the censure vote to keep kids out of the political fray.
“Sharing images of kids online without their consent is a clear violation of the bond of trust and respect between citizens and their legislators,” Fecteau said in a press release, citing the Maine legislative code of ethics. “There is a time and place for policy debates. That time and place will never be a social media post attacking a Maine student. Maine kids, and all Maine people, deserve better.”
Fecteau deleted his X account shortly after issuing the censure and did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
High school senior and Maine native Casey Carlisle, a three-time varsity athlete, said she disagreed with Libby’s use of the photo but supported her efforts to protect girls sports. Carlisle is speaking up in her own right to protect girls sports after losing a Nordic skiing qualifier race to a “transgender” athlete last year.
“To watch them finish the race and pass me was so defeating,” Carlisle told The Daily Signal, recalling the moment she saw the male pass her while climbing a hill toward the finish line. “It was like everything I had worked for was worth nothing in that moment.”
Proponents of women’s sports should continue to treat transgender individuals with respect while addressing the issue, Carlisle said, because the transgender athletes are competing in categories in which they have been told they are allowed to compete.
“Our government should never have allowed it to get to that point,” Carlisle said.
Libby insisted on social media that she broke no laws with her post and that the censure had more to do with the Maine Legislature’s support for transgenderism than with the ethics of posting the photo and name of a minor. She told The Daily Signal the censure is an attack on her right to free speech.
Carlisle said as a female athlete, she is grateful to Libby. Somebody needed to say something so others could speak up, she said.
The incident escalated after Democrat Gov. Janet Mills told President Donald Trump her state will not implement his executive order that directs federal agencies to ensure entities that receive federal funding, such as schools and universities, do not allow males to play in female sports.
In a press briefing last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about Libby and Mills and said “the president won’t back down” on keeping males out of female sports.
As Libby’s story goes viral online, locals have shown support for her and the protection of girls sports, Steve Robinson, the editor-in-chief of local news site Maine Wire, told The Daily Signal. “I have felt an outpouring of support from folks in the state on this issue, and it very much follows what I’ve seen online,” Libby said. “The majority of people are supportive of not just me but of Maine girls and their rights. Their rights are the ones being infringed here so massively. … People just needed to see an example.”