Maine’s Democrat-controlled House voted Tuesday evening to censure a Republican lawmaker who posted photos on their Facebook page of a transgender high school student.
The state House voted 75-70 along party lines to censure Rep. Laurel Libby (R), who refused to apologize for posting about the student and accused her Democratic colleagues of attempting to silence her.
The Republican lawmaker had criticized Maine schools for allowing transgender student-athletes to compete in line with their gender identity in a Feb. 17 Facebook post that included photos of a transgender student who won a girls’ track and field championship event in Maine.
Libby said she had made the post in protest of the state’s refusal to comply with a recent executive order by President Trump to ban trans athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. She posted student’s photos, name and deadname — the name they used before transitioning — without the student’s knowledge or consent. The Hill is not publishing the student’s name because they are still a minor.
The Facebook post, which Libby said Tuesday had been viewed millions of times, quickly went viral, landing Libby spots on Fox News and several conservative television and radio shows. Responding to those reports, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine and publicly clashed with the state’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills at an event at the White House.
Later, the Department of Education said it had launched an investigation into Maine’s education department and the school district of the student whose name and photos Libby published.
Jeffrey Porter, the school district’s superintendent, wrote in a Feb. 21 letter to parents that the high school would increase its police and security presence, given “national media attention” on the student and the school.
“Please know this is not in response to any specific threat or information; rather, it is a proactive security measure only,” Porter wrote in the letter.
Tuesday’s censure resolution calls Libby’s actions “reprehensible” and accuses the lawmaker of using the student’s name and image “to advance her political agenda.” Libby said the resolution was unjustified because the photos were from a public event.
“When the woke left can’t silence women, they cancel them,” she said Tuesday.
Libby, under the terms of the censure, is barred from voting or speaking on the House floor until she apologizes for the post, which Libby said she had no plans of doing following Tuesday’s vote.
Members on either side of the aisle criticized Libby’s Facebook post, but ultimately, no Republicans voted to censure her for it.
“Sharing images of kids online without their consent is a clear violation of the bond of trust and respect between citizens and their Legislators,” Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D) wrote in a social media post following Tuesday’s vote. “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.”
State Rep. David Boyer, a Republican who voted against censuring Libby, said he agreed that there “is a conversation to be had” regarding transgender athletes but disagreed with how Libby had approached the issue.
“My colleague made an error in judgement by posting images of a minor to push a policy agenda. This was reprehensible,” Boyer wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “We should be able to advocate policy without making kids political footballs.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think the ends justifies the means when it comes to using minors,” he added. “What if a Democrat posted a picture of your child to rally against homeschooling? Stating their name and what town you resided in?”
