This blog originally appeared at LGBTQ Nation.
Maine lawmakers have dropped a proposal aimed at safeguarding transgender youth’s access to critical healthcare in the face of intense conservative backlash on social media, notably fueled by Chaya Raichik, a controversial figure known for spreading hate online.
Chaya Raichik, the hate influencer, spread false information by asserting that the bill aimed at protecting transgender youth’s healthcare actually legalized child trafficking.
The state’s Judiciary Committee voted unanimously, with one member absent, to halt the progression of L.D. 1735. This bill intended to safeguard transgender youth and their families from legal repercussions in other states when seeking gender-affirming care in Maine.
L.D. 1735 aimed to implement measures to shield families seeking healthcare for their transgender children in Maine. Among these provisions, the bill would declare that an out-of-state arrest warrant related to violations of another state’s law against gender-affirming care for youth would be considered Maine’s “lowest law enforcement priority.”
On social media, Raichik – who goes by “Libs of TikTok” – claimed that the bill would allow Maine to “take custody of a kid if the parents oppose s*x change surgery and the chemical castration of their kids.” She dubbed the bill the “Transgender Trafficking Bill.”
Chaya Raichik falsely asserted that L.D. 1735 legalized child trafficking based on the bill’s provision granting state judges “temporary jurisdiction” over situations involving minors.
Jurisdiction means that a judge can rule on a specific case; “jurisdiction” is not a synonym for “custody.” But Raichik still highlighted the part of the bill about jurisdiction and wrote that it “says the state can take custody of a kid if the parents oppose s*x change surgery and the chemical castration of their kids.”
Raichik proceeded to share the email addresses of Judiciary Committee members and urged her 2.8 million followers to flood them with messages.
The message was then reposted by conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, who wrote, “This is SICK! Bombard them with emails. This cannot pass.”
Donald Trump Jr. also responded to Raichik’s post, writing that “they want full control of your kids. They want parents to have no say so they can do whatever they want,” an ironic take considering those seeking to ban minors from accessing gender-affirming care are trying to take away parents’ power over their kids’ medical care.
“These people are evil and insane. Stop this madness,” Trump Jr. added.
Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines urged her followers to send letters to the Judiciary Committee that falsely claimed that the bill “would permit state government to separate children from their parents over a social issue.”
The assertion was related to the provision in the bill permitting a judge to have temporary jurisdiction over a minor present in the state to rule on such cases. Moreover, the bill did not mandate judges to favor supportive parents in custody disputes; it merely allowed judges to consider such factors.
State Rep. Laurie Osher (D) introduced the bill earlier this month as a means to prevent prosecutors from other states from interrogating trans minors and their families if they seek healthcare that is unavailable in their home states. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), for example, has been requesting medical records for trans youth from Texas who are suspected of having sought healthcare out of state.
The bill would have made Maine the fifteenth state to enact a trans sanctuary state law.
fleeredstates.blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.