Often these past few weeks I have found myself breathing a sigh of relief that I live in a state where certain protections are in place ahead of the next Trump presidency, and feeling both concern and guilt when thinking about the millions of people who live in states that have been, or are now, being run by extremists more focused on policing someone’s gender than corporations overtaking democracy, or polluting our air and water.
But our borders are not impervious, and there are legitimate reasons Mainers are concerned. I spoke with both Equality Maine director Gia Drew, as well as Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, about what it means to be living in a blue-ish state during Trump 2.0.
Where voters are at
Republicans made significant gains across the country, not only winning control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, but also veto-proof supermajorities in several state legislatures.
In Maine, while Republicans gained a handful of seats in the Maine House and Senate, that red tide was not enough to wipe out the Democratic trifecta that’s been in place since Gov. Janet Mills took the helm in 2018. Not only did Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris win the statewide popular vote, but a majority of voters in the 2nd Congressional District — which did go to president-elect Donald Trump — re-elected Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, despite a significant push from national Republicans to flip the seat.
And though state Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart said the results show that “Maine voters are not happy with the status quo and wanted change,” I’d argue that for the majority of Mainers, the mandate is not for any radical shake up, but rather for state government to stay the course and continue to stand up for individuals’ rights.
Ensuring the safety of all Mainers
Trump campaigned on a promise to execute mass deportations, slash regulations and significantly downsize the federal government. He bullied opponents, threatened critics and scapegoated the most vulnerable — specifically targeting transgender people and immigrants — while giving free reign to billionaires and white supremacists.
In the immediate aftermath of the election, Gia Drew, executive director of Equality Maine, said the organization was flooded with calls, emails, social media requests with a host of questions about what transgender people, or families with trans youth, should be doing to protect themselves.
“Should I be worried about identity documents, updating gender markers or names, stockpiling medicine?” Drew rattled off. “Questions about adoptions, marriages, estates, wills, health care proxies, it goes on and on and on and on and on.”
This included people in state, as well as those from away, wondering if they should come to Maine.
“We have some of the strongest policies that support LGBTQ people in the country, including transgender people, but we are still limited in terms of what we can offer,” said Drew, pointing to the housing shortage, limited health care providers for transgender people, and the persistence of discrimination.
Drew, who is openly transgender, said for the 25 years she’s lived in Maine it’s “always felt more live-and-let-live.” Still, she said, “rhetoric has gotten more heated in recent years.”
Right now, she said it’s important for allies to “check in on an LGBTQ person or trans person in your life, check in and see if there is anything I can do for you and your community.” Going forward, she said there’s a role for allies to play at the local level to show up and speak out at a school board or town council meeting — or in places where people’s rights are being threatened.
“It can be really scary for an LGBTQ or trans person to show up in these spaces and speak their truth,” she said, noting that the opposition “feels emboldened now more than ever because their leader just got re-elected. You can already sense that here in Maine and across the country.”
Trump vowed to cut Medicaid and Medicare funding to health providers offering gender-affirming health care on his first day in office, and Drew expressed concern about the loss of other federal health care resources, including for HIV and AIDS medication, that would impact the LGBTQ+ community.
Equality Maine and other organizations are starting to discuss what other protections could be passed on the local level, and Drew said there’s talk about formalizing some of the ad hoc mutual aid networks that have sprung up to support LGBTQ+ and transgender people in Maine.
Equality Maine is also offering webinars for the next three Mondays with legal experts to address concerns about families and children, as well as individuals’ rights in employment and schools.
“I try to stay grounded and remember that LGBTQ people have been here forever, that trans people have existed for thousands of years,” she said. “The only way to do this is to learn and connect through communities, and ask allies to step up and help. That’s really important.”
The fight ahead
As for the fight to protect Mainers’ rights, Frey, the state attorney general, said he’s ready.
Speaking from Philadelphia, where he was meeting with 19 other Democratic attorneys general to discuss ways to respond to another Trump presidency, Frey said he and the other AGs are preparing how to react in the event that Trump tries to execute some of his promises.
Frey said he hopes the president of the United States would act lawfully, but “we have been planning for months and months and months for how we would respond immediately once we understand what play is being called,” whether that’s mass deportation or gutting environmental regulations or dismantling the Affordable Care Act.
Frey was elected to his post in 2018 and served two years under the previous Trump administration, which he said gave him and other AGs insight into the president-elect’s plans.
“In some ways, we had Trump 1.0 the first term and have a sense of what it is the president may try to do,” he said.
He also said he’s prepared for conservative attorneys general, such as the group that threatened to sue over Maine’s proposed shield law last spring, to be encouraged to interfere in states like Maine.
Frey noted that Maine is a state that “has done a lot through its legislative process, through its lawmaking, to support individual rights” and that part of his role is to make sure “the rights afforded to Mainers are protected from interference from a Trump administration and conservative attorneys general.”
When asked what he would say to those who are feeling concerned about their safety or future, Frey said that if anyone “is going to act unconstitutionally, or unlawfully, and target them for who they are or where they come from,” he is ready to work with whoever, Democrat or Republican, “to hold the line against discrimination, unlawful targeting, and violations of the rule of law.”
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