The Maine House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Laurel Libby Tuesday night for a recent social media post pointing out that a transgender high school athlete won a girls’ competition.
The Maine House’s Democratic majority, led by Speaker Ryan Fecteau, passed the censure resolution Tuesday night in a 75-70 vote. Libby is now no longer allowed to speak on the house floor or vote until she issues an apology.
Libby told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview after the vote that she does not plan to apologize for her recent post.
After the censure had been determined, Fecteau told Libby that the House members would take a break while Libby considered her apology.
“I told him, ‘We do not need to take ease’ as I was going to continue speaking up for Maine girls,” Libby said.
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports.
Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
For Libby, she has her own hypothesis about why Democrat lawmakers in her state, and many across the country, are fighting so hard to protect trans inclusion in girls’ sports, despite most Americans, and even most Democrats, being opposed to it.
“I think Maine Democrats’ stance is, they haven’t gone hard enough, and they need to dig in,” Libby said.
But she expects that Democrats fighting for their current stance, and censuring her Tuesday night, will backfire on them moving forward.
“I think this was a tremendous misstep on the part of the Democrats, and they are completely misjudging this issue, and they do not understand how vigorously Maine people disagree with them on this policy, and they will at some point regret this action from tonight,” she said.
Libby added that she believes her Republican colleagues have her back as she fights the censure.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
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