Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) defended the highly controversial and nationally-publicized decision to censure Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) for posting a photo of a male high school athlete victorious in girls’ sports during a televised debate with House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (Winter Harbor) last Thursday.
“My personal opinion is that it was appropriate and that the speaker reasonably has asked her to apologize because there was an individual involved, um, but she’s not done that, so I think that it was appropriate” said Sen. Baldacci.
Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) initiated censure proceedings against Rep. Libby late last month after she posted a publicly available picture on social media showing a transgender-identifying male high school student standing victorious over girls at a recent pole vault competition.
Libby’s post called attention to the unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports and the resulting opportunities to prevail denied girls by trans-identifying boys.
Despite the fact that Libby used a publicly available photo, did not call for any harassment or harm against the trans-identifying individual, and did not include his address, Democrats voted to censure Libby and remove her right to vote or speak on the House floor until she apologizes. She has refused to apologize or remove the Facebook post and remains unable to represent her constituents, who have effectively also been denied a voice.
“It wasn’t even a difficult decision. That censure made a mockery of the censure process. It was completely out of line, there were no guidelines as to what a representative could say on [sic], say or do on social media. We’ve got First Amendment grounds,” said Rep. Faulkingham.
“Now the member has essentially been expelled from the legislature without giving an apology which is bending the knee and saying, making her admit that she was wrong when she does not feel like she was wrong, which is just completely out of bounds for the House,” he added.
He further pointed out that in the history of the Maine Legislature, there have only ever been four censures, including Libby’s, three of which have been directed against Republicans (and one against an Independent) when Democrats held majority control of the legislature.
Despite Baldacci’s defense of Libby’s censure, he appeared to refer to the trans-identifying male athlete as “he” in a clip of the debate posted to Facebook by Faulkingham, acknowledging perhaps inadvertently that the athlete is not a girl.
“It really posed a safety issue to the student, to be honest with you, and his family,” said Baldacci in a brief clip posted to Facebook by Faulkingham.
“He acknowledged the biological male pole vaulter is a boy, demonstrating the mental gymnastics taking place on the Democrat side of this issue,” said Faulkingham of Baldacci in his Facebook post.
Following the debate, Baldacci posted his own statement on Facebook, claiming that the debate went “very, very well.”
“Despite some people’s concerns, tonight’s discussion on Channel 7 went very very well. The larger issues like the rule of law, how a bill becomes law, and respecting the dignity of all of our citizens is still important,” said Baldacci.
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