Maine GOP legislator sues in response to censure for posting image of underage transgender athlete

A Maine state GOP lawmaker is suing the state Legislature's Democrat House speaker for censuring her for a social media post about a transgender high school athlete.

The post by Rep. Laurel Libby was to draw attention to Maine's high school girls’ indoor track-and-field state championship, in which a student who competed as a boy last year but now identifies as transgender won first place in girls’ pole vault.

Speaker Ryan Fecteau said Libby violated the state's code of ethics by sharing an image of a minor online.

“Sharing images of kids online without their consent is a clear violation of the bond of trust and respect between citizens and their Legislators," Fecteau said in February in censuring Libby, prohibiting her from voting or speaking on the House floor until she apologizes for the Facebook post. 

"There is a time and place for policy debates," Fecteau continued. "That time and place will never be a social media post attacking a Maine student.” 

On Tuesday, Libby sued Fecteau and House clerk Robert Hunt for the censure, stating it violated her free speech, according to The Associated Press.

“I have the constitutional right to speak out and my constituents have the right to full representation in the Maine House," she said in a statement. "Biological males have no place in girls’ sports. Our girls have every right, under federal law, to fair competition in sports."

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that banned transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she would not comply with the order to which Trump said the state wouldn't get federal funding.