The Maine Senate has defeated a slate of Republican-backed bills that would have rolled back rights for transgender people and prevented transgender girls from competing on girls and women's sports teams.
The bills were a legislative priority for the GOP, which had the framed the sports proposals as defending women and girls. They received heightened attention after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills clashed with President Donald Trump in February, touching off a retaliation campaign that led to the freezing of various federal grants.
But none of those factors was enough to push the bills over the finish line when the Maine Senate voted against each one Monday night. Lawmakers who spoke against the proposals described them as targeting a vulnerable transgender population and rolling back their rights to use bathrooms, names and pronouns that align with their gender identity.
One of the sports-related bills did narrowly clear the Democratic-controlled House, but it was soundly defeated in the Senate on Monday with Republican Sen. Rick Bennett joining majority Democrats in voting against it.
The issue of transgender athletes' participation in girls' sports will likely be decided in federal court as part of a lawsuit brought against the state by the Trump Administration.
