Our Record of Advancing Equality
Our community has seen remarkable progress over the years, but it didn’t just happen. We gave our time, our energy, our money, and together we did the hard work to change hearts and minds. Here is the product of that collective effort (so far!)
2021
In the Legislature
LD 29 - An Act To Conform the Maine Apprenticeship Program to the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972
Both federal and Maine law prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. This bill amends the Maine Apprenticeship Program to bring it into compliance with federal Equal Employment Opportunity Act standards, including clarifying that employment nondiscrimination protections also apply in apprenticeships.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!!
LD 173 - An Act To Restore Honor to Certain Service Members
Since World War II, more than 100,000 Americans are estimated to have been discharged from the military due to their sexual orientation or gender identity with discharge statuses of “other than honorable,” “general discharge,” or “dishonorable,” depending on the circumstances. As a consequence, many of these service members may be disqualified from accessing certain benefits that they earned and are entitled to, and may not be able to claim veteran status. This bill requires the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services to establish a process for a veteran who separated from service without an honorable discharge due solely to the veteran’s sexual orientation or gender identity to have that discharge treated as an honorable discharge for purposes of determining the veteran’s eligibility for rights, privileges and benefits under state law.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 209 - An Act Concerning Name Changes for Minors
This bill allows the court to change a minor’s name upon the agreement of the relevant persons, and also sets forth factors for judicial consideration of a young person’s best interests when the relevant parties - parents, a guardian, a young person aged 14 or over, a person or agency with legal custody, or a guardian ad litem - do not agree about the name change. Since a name is fundamental to a person’s identity, is deeply personal and also highly visible, it is essential for courts to hear from the minor about whether the proposed name is one they want to wear day in and out, whether it comports with their self-concept, or raises other concerns.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 222 - An Act to Update the Maine Parentage Act
The Maine Parentage Act promotes the security of children and families. It does so by providing clear routes to legally establish a parent-child relationship, and without regard to the circumstances of a child’s birth or whether their parents were unmarried or used medical assistance to have a child. All children need a legal parent or parents who both love their child and assume responsibilities such as care and custody of the child, medical and educational decision making, child support, and health insurance coverage, and this bill’s clarification and expansion of access to Voluntary Acknowledgements of Parentage will make that easier for more families.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 855 - An Act Regarding the Issuance of Birth Certificates Following a Gender Marker Change
This bill codifies the ability to apply for a gender marker change on a birth certificate, and clarifies that a new birth certificate may not be marked “amended.”
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1044 - An Act to Protect the Rights of Certain Incarcerated Individuals
This bill requires that in Maine jails and prisons, a person’s consistently held gender identity be respected and acknowledged, irrespective of anatomy or physique. Housing placements and search practices to be consistent with the person’s gender identity except when such placement or search would present significant management or security problems to the facility or threaten the health and safety of the person. Such person shall have access to commissary items, clothing, personal property, programming, and educational materials that are consistent with the person’s gender identity. Staff shall address the person in a manner that is consistent with the person’s gender identity.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1115 - An Act To Improve Access to HIV Prevention Medications
This bill requires health insurance carriers to provide coverage for HIV prevention drugs, such as PrEP and PEP, that have been determined to be medically necessary by a health care provider without imposing prior authorization or step therapy requirements. The bill also authorizes a pharmacist to dispense HIV prevention drugs under certain conditions without a prescription, subject to rules for dispensing and protocols adopted by the Maine Board of Pharmacy.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1688 - An Act To Improve Consistency within the Maine Human Rights Act
This bill addresses inconsistencies in the protections provided in different areas of jurisdiction under the Maine Human Rights Act. The bill provides more inclusive protection by: including adult family members dependent for care in the definition of “familial status”; including familial status as a protected class in employment; including age as a protected class in public accommodations; and clarifying the scope of the Maine Human Rights Act application in education. The bill also clarifies that the sexual orientation provisions in the Maine Human Rights Act extend to gender identity.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
2020
In the Legislature
LD 1764 - An Act to Update the Maine Insurance Code
This bill prohibits discrimination against people on PrEP in life insurance, disability income insurance, and long-term care insurance. PrEP is an HIV prevention strategy where HIV-negative individuals take a single pill once a day. The medication works to prevent HIV from establishing infection inside the body. By denying coverage to folks who take smart and responsible action to protect themselves, insurance companies were creating a perverse incentive for people to stop taking PrEP in order to get the insurance coverage they need.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1771 - An Act to Amend the Law Governing Name Changes
This bill makes it easier for transgender or gender nonconforming people in Maine to obtain a waiver of the publication requirement when making a legal name change, by making “reasonable fear for the person’s safety” the only criteria they have to meet. For many transgender or gender nonconforming people, publishing their name change could put their safety in jeopardy by outing them to the public. At a time when transgender and gender nonconforming people experience violence at exponentially higher rates than their cisgender peers simply for being trans, this law helps reduce some of that risk by making it easier to receive a publication waiver.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
In the Administrative Process
We worked with Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services on rulemaking to add the option of an “X” gender marker on birth certificates, in addition to “M” and “F”, and to simplify the process for changing a gender marker on a birth certificate. The finalized rules allow an adult to request a new birth record reflecting the appropriate gender marker by filing a notarized attestation on a department-approved form, with neither a court order nor a signature from a medical provider required. For a minor, the parent(s) must submit a notarized attestation, along with the signature of a licensed physician or licensed mental health care provider.
2019
In the Legislature
LD 1 - An Act to Protect Health Care Coverage for Maine Families
This landmark bill put several key provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act into state law. Now, no matter what happens in Congress or in the courts, Mainers will be able to rest assured that they can get health care that includes coverage for pre-existing conditions. As a result, people living with HIV/AIDS won’t have to pay exorbitant premiums or lose access to life saving treatment. And the bill’s prohibition on exclusions for trans health in private insurance plans means that so many transgender Mainers will be able to get the care that they need, when they need it.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1025 - An Act to Prohibit the Provision of Conversion Therapy to Minors by Certain Licensed Professionals
Few practices hurt LGBTQ+ youth more than attempts to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through so-called “conversion therapy” - the scientifically discredited premise that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is a defect or disorder that can be treated. This bill prohibits state-licensed medical and mental health professionals from administering this “treatment” to minors.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1475 - An Act to Eliminate Profiling in Maine
This bill prohibits profiling on the basis of actual or perceived race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, socioeconomic status, age, national origin or ancestry by law enforcement. The bill also requires that training of law enforcement officers include anti-profiling education and instruction, and directs the Attorney General to establish procedures for receiving, investigating and responding to complaints alleging profiling by law enforcement officers or law enforcement agencies.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1632 - An Act Regarding Criminal Procedure with Respect to Allowable Defenses
This bill prohibits the use of the gay and trans “panic” defense - a legal strategy that asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity explains, and often excuses, a defendant’s violent reaction. For a community already facing a disproportionate risk of violence, the gay and trans “panic” defense quite literally adds insult to injury because it allows a defense attorney to use a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity against them in court, sending the message that violence against LGBTQ+ people is acceptable, and even justifiable.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1701 - An Act to Clarify Various Provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act
This bill makes several changes to the Maine Human Rights Act in order to clarify its proper application and interpretation, including finally providing a definition of gender identity and separating it from the definition of sexual orientation. In addition, this bill requires that places of public accommodation designate all single-occupancy restrooms as gender-neutral. This does not require new construction of gender-neutral restrooms but that current single-occupancy restrooms in public places be designated as gender-neutral.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
LD 1803 - An Act to Update the Laws Regarding Death and Marriage Records
This bill makes changes to the laws governing marriage records and the filing, correction and amendment of death records, including removing outdated language that describes marriage as “the union of a man and a woman” to conform with the marriage equality law passed by the voters in 2012. These changes reflect the will of Maine voters who recognized all marriages as equal, not placing value on heterosexual marriages or judgement on LGBTQ+ marriages.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Janet Mills!
In the Administrative Process
Making MaineCare Trans-Inclusive
While the passage of LD 1 prohibited exclusions for trans health in private insurance plans, our state’s version of Medicaid - MaineCare - still had this exclusion. As a result, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services initiated rulemaking to bring MaineCare into alignment with private insurance. Along with our partners at GLAD, MaineTransNet, and Maine Women’s Lobby, we testified in favor of the change, and in the fall DHHS finally adopted a rule removing the exclusion and officially providing coverage for medically necessary care for transgender Mainers.
Eliminating the Medical Provider Requirement for Changing Gender Markers on Driver’s Licenses and State IDs
We worked with Secretary of State Matt Dunlap to secure a historic change to driver’s license and state ID applications, allowing Mainers to select their appropriate gender marker, including non-binary, without requiring approval from a medical provider. Now, whether someone is getting their ID for the first time or changing the gender marker on their current ID, they can do so without bringing additional paperwork.
2018
In the Administrative Process
Allowing the Option of a Non-Binary Gender Designation on Driver’s Licenses and State IDs
In a historic agreement, the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles - a division of the Department of the Secretary of State - began offering the option of a non-binary gender designation on driver’s licenses and identification cards. The agreement was the result of a complaint filed with the Maine Human Rights Commission by attorney and then-EqualityMaine board president, Zack Paakkonen, on behalf of his client, Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey. As a result of this change Maine became the third state in the country, and the first in New England, to adopt non-binary gender designations on driver’s licenses and ID cards.
2017
In the Legislature
LD 611 - An Act to Amend Certain Laws Affecting the Judicial Branch
Access to a trial by a jury of one’s peers is an American right, and while Maine law had long prohibited discrimination in service on a jury based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, economic status, marital status, age or physical handicap, it did not explicitly prohibit discrimination in jury service based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Because a trial by a jury of one’s peers cannot be truly realized without protections from discrimination during the process of jury selection, and the lack of equal representation in juries could result in unfair trials, particularly for victims or defendants who are LGBT, this bill proposed to explicitly prohibit discrimination in jury service based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and although Governor LePage refused to sign it, it still became law!
2016
At the Local Level
Together with our partners in the Coalition to End Transgender Healthcare Discrimination in Maine - MaineTransNet, ACLU of Maine, and Consumers for Affordable Healthcare - we worked with the City of Portland to update its health insurance plan for city employees and their dependents by removing exclusions for trans health care. The City Council voted unanimously to make Portland became the first city in the state to affirmatively vote for trans-inclusive health insurance.
2015
In the Legislature
LD 1017 - An Act to Update Maine’s Family Law
We know that family forms are diverse: LGBT people are among those using medically assisted reproduction and surrogacy to bear and nurture the next generation. Because Maine’s law lagged behind this reality, contentious “winner takes all” court battles over who has parental rights were disrupting settled relationships that children should have been able to count on. Under this bill, parental rights will be determined based on parental responsibility and existing parent-child relationships, enabling all children to be accorded the same rights without regard to the marital status or gender of the parents, or the circumstances of the child’s birth. This is great news for LGBT Mainers who are parents and LGBT Mainers who want to be parents someday, because they will no longer have to worry about their parental rights being challenged based on outdated laws. It is great news for kids because they won’t have to worry that they will be treated differently just because they have LGBT parents.
EqualityMaine supported this bill; it was passed by the legislature and although Governor LePage vetoed it, the State House and State Senate both overrode the veto unaninmously and it became law!