Rep. Kristen Cloutier (D-Lewiston) withdrew a bill earlier this month that would have put taxpayer-funded tampons in public school boys’ bathrooms, marking a victory for the Mainers who agree that men cannot menstruate.

Rep. Cloutier’s bill, LD 155, died on April 8 when the House and Senate both voted to accept her “leave to withdraw” request.

The bill was initially set to be considered in the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs, but it was withdrawn before any work session or public hearing could be held.

Cloutier’s proposal would have forced taxpayers to pay to stock tampons and other menstrual products in every public school bathroom across the state, including boys’ bathrooms.

Her leave to withdraw request was approved by the Education Committee chairs just one day after a fiscal note was attached to the bill, revealing how much the program was expected to cost. The fiscal note projected that Maine taxpayers would pay $241,417 in annual costs for the tampons, along with a $32,400 one-time expense for the dispensers.

The note was forced to unwittingly acknowledge that boys do not menstruate when calculating the potential cost, as it considered only expected tampon usage by female students.

The Maine Wire reached out to Cloutier, asking why the bill was withdrawn, but she did not immediately respond.

The withdrawal comes as Maine faces a loss of federal funding and a federal lawsuit over its refusal to prevent males from competing in women’s sports or entering women’s restrooms and locker rooms. Cloutier’s bill would likely have run afoul of President Donald Trump’s order banning radical gender ideology from schools. Gender ideology says that a man can become a woman, and falsely asserts that some men can menstruate, because it entirely separates gender from biological sex.

Cloutier isn’t the only Democrat to quietly withdraw a bill that would put gender ideology in schools.

Rep. Cheryl Golek (D-Harpswell) recently withdrew her bill, LD 1482, that would have mandated LGBTQ education across Maine schools.