THE NEW YORK TIMES – Before President Trump chastised Gov. Janet Mills of Maine at the White House last month, and before his administration started investigating Maine’s education system, the seeds of their conflict over [so-called] transgender athletes had been planted by a state legislator.
Representative Laurel Libby, a Republican from Auburn, Maine, had posted on Facebook about a transgender athlete who won a high school pole-vaulting competition. Her critical post, which named and included photos of the student athlete, went viral.
About a month later, the fallout has included funding cuts at the University of Maine and a finding by the Trump administration that the state had violated federal law by allowing transgender athletes to compete on two high school teams.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature has censured Ms. Libby. And people on both sides of the issue have experienced a complex surge of emotions about Maine suddenly landing in the cross hairs of Mr. Trump.
When the Trump administration issued an executive order on Feb. 5 barring [transvestites] from women’s sports, Ms. Libby, a 43-year-old mother of five, saw an opportunity to amplify her own position on the matter.
After she took to social media to criticize her state for standing by its policy, she said in an interview, she received a tip about a [cross-dressing] high school student in Maine who was set to compete in a girls’ track event last month.
When the student came in first, Ms. Libby posted two photos: one showing the student [whose name is John – Ed.] on the medal podium last year, after competing on the boys’ team and placing fifth, and another taken after the student [competing under the assumed name “Katie] won the girls’ competition.
Ms. Libby’s post circulated widely on conservative social media. Democratic state lawmakers called it bullying; Ms. Libby appeared on Fox News to discuss her refusal to delete it …
