Defending Voters’ Rights in Maine

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The ability to participate in elections is fundamental. It is of the utmost performance that every person can make their voice heard at the ballot box. However, LD1149 would make it more difficult — and for some people, practically impossible — to vote.

“An Act to Require an Individual to Present Photographic Identification for the Purposes of Voting” is a voter suppression referendum that will keep eligible voters from being able to actively participate in our political process. Among other issues, LD1149 would eliminate ongoing absentee ballots, cut the time period for early absentee voting by two days, impose barriers to the use of secure ballot drop-off boxes, and prevent voters from requesting an absentee ballot over the phone. In addition, LD1149 would require voters to provide photo ID from a restrictive list of acceptable forms of ID every time they vote.

GLAD Law submitted testimony in opposition to LD1149 highlighting the barriers photo ID requirements and restricted absentee voting and early voting will have on all Mainers, especially on transgender voters. Read our testimony to learn more.

GLAD Law is a member of the Save Maine Absentee Voting Coalition, a diverse, nonpartisan group of organizations from across Maine who believe that fair, open, and accessible elections are the cornerstone of our democracy.

Protecting Human Rights and Transgender Youth in Maine

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Our schools should create a supportive environment where every student can receive an education and participate in school activities.

But several bills have been filed in the Legislature this session that would single out transgender young people, roll back nondiscrimination protections, and open the door to harassment, bullying and abuse of all Maine girls.

Several of these bills would ban transgender students from playing school sports with their peers. These dangerous and unfair bans would invite any person to call for an invasive “gender check” on any student who wants to play sports if they think she is “too tall” or “too strong.” If these bills pass, they will become another weapon for bullies to use against transgender students and all girls in Maine.

Our school climates are improved when more children participate in extracurricular activities, and participating in sports teaches important values like perseverance, dedication, and self-assurance. We should be encouraging more young people to play sports, not putting up barriers and subjecting them to interrogation and ridicule.

Join us on Thursday, May 8th in pushing back against this harmful national political agenda and support Maine’s ability to protect the rights of all students on the playing field and beyond. 

Sign up to find out how you can testify against these harmful bills:

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Racially Inclusive Curriculum in Maine

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For decades, scholars and educators have recognized the value of a “windows and mirrors” approach to teaching, where a school curriculum can serve as a “mirror” reflecting a student’s own background back to them, or as a “window” into other identities and traditions. These window and mirror effects are all the more important when young people have few opportunities to see their lives, culture, and history mirrored back to them or shared with their peers.

GLAD Law submitted testimony in support of LD957, LD1202, and LD1474, bills that will strengthen and further integrate the teaching of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history, African American studies, and Wabanaki studies in Maine schools. GLAD Law’s testimony describes how racially inclusive school curriculum can foster a sense of belonging and community among students, increase educational achievements for all students, and prepare youth with the knowledge they need to participate in our democracy and succeed in an increasingly diverse society.

Education Discrimination Remedies in Maine

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Unlawful discrimination is extraordinarily harmful for all people, especially students. These harms have a lasting impact that deprives young people of equal opportunities to grow, learn and succeed—and deprives us all of those young people’s unique insights, talents, and contributions.

LD1647, “An Act to Amend the Maine Human Rights Act to Provide Additional Remedies for Educational Discrimination,” would make compensatory damages available for students who can prove they have experienced unlawful educational discrimination. These damages were historically available under federal law until 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court severely limited remedies. Now, students must rely on the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) to protect them. However, the modest civil penalties provided under the MHRA are not enough to cover the costs of litigation or compensate victims for the harms they have suffered.

LD 1647 is a common-sense bill that restores the status quo as it existed before 2022 when the damages were available, and in doing so reaffirms Maine’s commitment to building an education system where all students can thrive.

Read the testimony from GLAD Law and the ACLU of Maine to learn more.

Expanding Access to HIV Prevention in Maine

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With HIV cases rising due to an active HIV outbreak in Bangor and federal funding for HIV prevention under threat, we must act boldly at the state level to preserve access to proven, cost-effective prevention strategies.

GLAD Law along with over 60 community organizations, public health advocates, constituents, and individuals submitted testimony in support of LD1687, “An Act to Clarify and Increase Access to HIV Prevention Medications.” This bill would builds on the 2021 law allowing people to access PrEP and PEP directly from a pharmacist without a prescription.

LD1687 will expand access to HIV prevention across Maine by addressing reimbursement for pharmacists, enabling pharmacists to administer long-acting injectable forms of PrEP, and ensuring insurance coverage of injectable PrEP.

Syringe Service Programs in Maine

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Maine is currently facing a public health crisis due to an outbreak of HIV in Bangor. Syringe service programs are an important element in ending the HIV epidemic, and GLAD Law is working in Maine to increase access to these programs and ensure best practices are met.

LD219 “An Act to Limit Hypodermic Apparatus Exchange Programs to a One-for-one Exchange”

Update: Victory! On April 17, 2025, LD219 died in committee.

GLAD Law submitted testimony in opposition to LD219, a bill that would worsen public health outcomes by creating a one-for-one limit for syringe exchange programs. One-for-one needle exchange programs limit syringe distribution by requiring participants to return a needle before they are given a new one. These programs have been found to be less effective at reducing the number of people reusing syringes.

GLAD Law’s testimony advocates for comprehensive harm reduction strategies, including community clean-up efforts, safe disposal programs, and education initiatives, to address concerns around syringe litter while remaining responsive to public health needs.

LD1078 “An Act to Support Maine’s Public Health Objectives by Increasing Access to Hypodermic Apparatus Exchange Programs”

GLAD Law joined the Frannie Peabody Center in submitting testimony in support of LD1078, legislation that would increase access to life-saving care through syringe service programs. LD1078 would allow providers of syringe service programs to operate at multiple locations within a county under one license. This flexibility would increase access to care, enhance staff capacity, and increase the accessibility of safe disposal sites.

Pride Portland

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Pride Portland

Saturday, June 21 | Portland, ME | Learn more

Celebrate pride with GLAD Law at the Pride Portland Parade & Festival.

Pride Portland! brings people together from all over the US and beyond for an annual parade and festival in downtown Portland, Maine to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ movement, to raise awareness of the community’s ongoing struggles, and to foster an environment of inclusivity, accessibility, and solidarity.

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St. Dominic Academy et al. v. Makin

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The state of Maine runs a program that provides state funds to support students who attend a private school when the school district where they live does not have its own high school. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Carson v. Makin that the program must apply to religious schools.

Maine now requires all schools receiving public funds to abide by the educational nondiscrimination provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act. Two religious schools filed lawsuits in Maine federal district court claiming the application of the Human Rights Act provisions to them violates their free exercise of religion. The District Court denied both challenges, and the schools have appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

GLAD Law joined with Lambda Legal on a friend-of-the-court brief to make two broad points: 1. The Carson v. Makin decision does not control in this case, and 2. Maine has compelling state interests in requiring compliance with the MHRA.

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Advocates Respond to U.S. Department of Justice Lawsuit Against State of Maine for Failures in Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health System

The suit comes after more than two years of negotiations between the parties

Augusta – Today, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the State of Maine based on its June 2022 findings that Maine discriminated against youth with disabilities by failing to maintain an adequate system of behavioral health services that prevent institutionalization. The lawsuit comes after settlement negotiations broke down.

“Twenty-five years after the landmark Supreme Court decision Olmstead v. L.C., which found that unnecessarily segregating people with disabilities into institutional settings violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, Maine children and their families are still waiting for a legally compliant behavioral health system. And despite calls for more than a decade to ensure the availability of those services, Maine has failed to do so. Unfortunately, this lawsuit was the necessary result of that continued failure,” said Atlee Reilly, Managing Attorney, Disability Rights Maine.

After initially receiving a complaint filed by Disability Rights Maine, the U.S. DOJ conducted a lengthy investigation and found:

“Maine’s community-based behavioral health system fails to provide sufficient services. As a result, hundreds of children are unnecessarily segregated in institutions each year, while other children are at serious risk of entering institutions.”
“Children are unable to access behavioral health services in their homes and communities—services that are part of an existing array of programs that the State advertises to families through its Medicaid program (MaineCare), but does not make available in a meaningful or timely manner.”
“Maine children with behavioral health needs are eligible and appropriate for the range of community-based services the State offers, but either remain in segregated settings or are at serious risk of institutionalization.”
“Families and children in Maine are overwhelmingly open to receiving services in integrated settings. In fact, parents indicated a strong preference that their children receive services at home due to trauma, neglect, and abuse that their children reportedly endured in residential facilities within and outside of Maine.”

Those findings should not have been a surprise to the State of Maine, which had been on clear notice of the widespread inadequacy of its community-based behavioral health system for children when a comprehensive assessment concluded, in 2018, that children’s behavioral health services were not available when needed, or not available at all. Two years later, a separate independent assessment of the juvenile justice system found that many youth are detained and incarcerated at Long Creek because they could not access appropriate community-based services for their behavioral and mental health needs.

What was true in 2018 remains true today- Maine continues to fail to ensure that children with disabilities have access to the community-based behavioral health services they need in their homes and communities. As a result, children with disabilities in Maine are unnecessarily institutionalized in residential facilities, including at Long Creek and in other residential facilities both inside and outside the state, severing their ties to family and community. This violates their right, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, to receive services in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs.

“When kids can access treatment and support close to home, they can stay connected with their families and communities,” said ACLU of Maine Legal Director Carol Garvan. “Unfortunately, for far too long, Maine has not ensured these services. Since 2016, we have been working to address human rights violations at Long Creek, but not enough has been done. Maine must provide its kids the services they need to live healthy and safe lives.”

“Maine children with disabilities and their families deserve what the law requires, which is community-based behavioral health services. The failure to provide those services harms children, strains and fragments families, and ripples across communities. Maine can and must step up to meet its obligations with the services the law requires,” said Mary Bonauto, Senior Director at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.

As the U.S. DOJ indicated in its complaint,

“Maine can implement reasonable modifications so that children with behavioral health disabilities can live and thrive in integrated settings instead of entering institutions to access care.”
“But instead of modifying its service system to prevent and resolve unnecessary segregation, Maine has prioritized expanding its institutional services.”

Read the DOJ press release.

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Shield law takes effect in Maine to protect against extremist attacks on reproductive, gender-affirming care

Maine joins 17 other states and Washington, D.C. in enacting proactive measure to protect providers, access to care

A new law takes effect today that seeks to shield Maine’s providers of reproductive care and health care for transgender people from attacks based on other states’ laws.

Maine joins at least 17 other states and Washington D.C. in enacting this type of law to protect medical experts who provide safe, legal, essential health care amidst a barrage of ongoing and increasing attacks on abortion and related care as well as medical care for transgender and non-binary people.

LD 227 takes effect just months after the United States Supreme Court opined on two politically motivated cases that seek to restrict access to abortion care through medication abortion and emergency medical care respectively. The Court has agreed to hear a case next term on whether state bans on medical care for transgender adolescents violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Maine legislature passed LD 227 last spring after lawmakers endured bomb threats to their homes and the State House as well as rampant lies about abortion care, care for transgender people and Maine’s current laws. Sixteen Attorneys General from states that have banned abortion care, health care for transgender adolescents, or both also threatened the state of Maine as elected leaders considered the measure. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey rejected that threat as ‘meritless.’ Governor Janet Mills signed the bill into law in April.

LD 227 is consistent with Mills’ July 2022 executive order safeguarding providers and patients of reproductive care in the wake of the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. It also builds on legislation passed by Maine lawmakers in June 2023 that protects reproductive health care providers from adverse actions by malpractice insurers.

Statement from Lisa Margulies, Esq., Vice President of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund
“Maine continues to lead the nation in protecting safe, legal, essential health care from extremist attacks.

We are grateful to Maine lawmakers who endured threats of violence, abhorrent political rhetoric and rampant lies and moved to protect safe, legal, medical care in Maine. We thank Governor Mills for signing LD 227 into law.

This law creates a new layer of protection against extremists who want to reach beyond their own borders and interfere with Maine’s laws. It means health care providers can continue to offer critical, lifesaving reproductive and gender-affirming medical care in our state, and people who need it can continue to receive this care here.

But let’s be clear: people opposed to abortion and medical care for transgender and nonbinary people will not stop their assaults. The goal is total control over our bodies and our futures. We must remain vigilant and ensure our elected leaders will fight for our rights and freedoms.

LD 227, like all state laws, are subject to change or even repeal based on who represents us in Augusta. With every seat in the Maine legislature up for grabs in November, we urge Mainers to vote their values at the ballot box.”

Statement from Polly Crozier, Director of Family Advocacy, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders
“LD 227 ensures Maine law will govern health care in Maine, that health care decision-making can stay between patients, families, and their doctors, and that Maine providers who deliver vital care are protected. As politicians in more and more states seek to take away our ability to make important, private medical decisions for ourselves and our families, this law safeguards access to legal, standard-of-care health care. We are grateful to Maine legislators and Governor Mills for recognizing the importance of protecting dedicated health care practitioners and re-affirming the state’s commitment to reproductive freedom and equality for transgender Mainers.”

Background

Twenty-two states have enacted bans or near-total bans on abortion care.
At least 26 states have passed laws banning access to safe and effective medical care for transgender adolescents, and some have moved to restrict access to this care for adults.
Every major medical association supports care for transgender and nonbinary people, and leading medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist oppose government interference with reproductive health care.

LD 227 – The Facts

LD 227 seeks to protect providers and patients from unwarranted out-of-state intrusion into medical decision making and ensures clinicians in Maine can continue to practice in line with the professional standards of care, governed by Maine law.
LD 227 does NOT provide funding for reproductive health care or health care for transgender people. There is nothing related to funding in LD 227.
LD 227 does NOT change current Maine laws with respect to minors and the care they can access.

131st session legislative scorecard
A scorecard outlining how every Maine lawmaker voted on key legislation on reproductive care and related policy during the 131st legislative session can be found here.