A roadside sign in Maine bearing one of the New England state's slogans (Source: Maine: The Way Life Should Be Facebook group)

By Alice Giordano

May 11, 2023Updated: May 11, 2023

 

A former transgender warns that Maine could become the capital of child sex trafficking under a bill seeking to make the state into a sanctuary for minors to undergo sex-change procedures in states where the procedures are outlawed.

“There is so much far-left money in this state that I believe this will literally open the gates of hell,” Parental Rights Maine director David Arthur told The Epoch Times.

Under the bill—which opponents have dubbed “Maine’s Trans-Trafficking Bill”—any adult who brings a child to the state to help them transition to another gender would receive asylum from criminal prosecution by any other U.S. state.

Judges and law enforcement would  be prohibited from cooperating with extradition warrants for the return of children to their home state even in custody disputes—if they involve a disagreement over transitioning the child.

‘Most Dangerous Bill’

Many have criticized the bill as having the potential to snatch children from parents opposed to gender transitioning in other states and bring them to Maine where they could become wards of the state.

Shawn McBreairty, a father of twin girls and host of the podcast Maine Source of Truth, said on Twitter that “Maine is a messed up place to raise a child” in response to the bill proposal.

A hearing on the measure (LD 1735) is slated for May 12 at 1 p.m. at the Maine statehouse.

It is expected to be nothing short of a battle between Maine’s working class of lobstermen, blue collar workers, and scatter of conservatives—and the melange of liberal inhabitants of the once rundown oceanside art colonies that now make up billion-dollar neighborhoods.

While other states have similar laws already in place, Arthur believes Maine’s status as a rural, but rich coastal state with few white collar jobs and bounty of tourists as a “perfect breeding ground” for sex trafficking.

Now a detransitioned male who has featured in a number of documentaries exposing the dark side of gender affirming care for youth, Arthur said his days as a trans prostitute were started out by someone persuading him to transition.

“A lot of people ask me how did we get here? How did we get in this mess? How does this hoax have so many legal and moral protections?” said Arthur.

“That’s really easy to answer—for me. Because, as a former transgender prostitute, most of my highest paying clients—my johns—were judges, lawyers, CEOs, police chiefs, politicians. Even a couple actors.”

A Lot of Dark Money

Arthur said it was a life that eventually led to him being convicted as a sex offender.

He said he was so stricken with osteoporosis after years of taking estrogen that he walked with a cane by the time he was in his 30s.

In the 1980s as a young trans adult addicted to drugs and alcohol, he was among the buyers of the synthetic female hormone that he said was peddled along with testosterone “in brown paper bags” in gay and lesbian bars.

“There is a lot of dark money and sexual fetishes being satisfied behind all this that people are choosing not to see,” said Arthur, who is now 50 years old.

In all, there are seven Democrats sponsoring LD 1735. None of them responded to requests for comments by The Epoch Times.

According to Arthur, they represent some of the most liberal communities in Maine.

Among them are main sponsors Rep. Laurie Osher, who represents the college town of Orono that is home to the University of Maine, and Nina Millen who represents Blue Hill, an artsy mid-coast town made up of elite hallmark performing art venues, avant guard bookstores, LGBT groups, and a large number of mental health therapists.

The Epoch Times counted 17 therapy practices in the small town of a little more than 1,000 people.

Another primary sponsor is Rep. Matt Moonen, a Democrat from liberal Portland. He is a former executive director of Equality Maine whose partner currently serves as chief of staff to state Gov. Janet Mills and is a former director of advocacy for Planned Parenthood.

No Responses to Approaches

The Epoch Times reached out for comment on LD 1735 to EqualityMaine—along with the group OUT Maine, MaineTransNet, the national groups Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD), and Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). None responded.

As of May 11, none of the organizations had any mention of the Maine transgender sanctuary bill on their websites or listed the May 12 hearing on their calendars.

One Maine newspaper quoted Osher as saying she fashioned the bill after California’s first-in-the-nation trans sanctuary law that was enacted in January.

The bill protects against the enforcement of any out-of-state laws that ban minors from receiving hormone blockers, sex change procedures, and other gender treatment.

It also has a what-happens-in-California-stays-in-California provision, relative to the medical records of a so-called transgender child.

Maine’s bill calls on the protections to apply to any children and adults that bring them to Maine to receive “medically necessary health care that respects the gender identity of the patient.”

It too has a what-happens-in-Maine-stays-in-Maine provision for health services provided to minors brought from out of state.