LETTERS: Disagrees with article

To the editor:

I was very disappointed in the uncredited May 22 article entitled “Local students go to state house to support girls’ sports and spaces.” Not only did it display a shocking amount of bias, but it was also poorly researched and nonfactual. It made the claim that, “most Mainers recognize these bills are commonsense policy that needs to be passed.” It fact, the vast majority of individuals who showed up to testify, including many female student athletes, were testifying against these anti-trans bills.

I won’t include numbers here for every bill (testimony available to all at https://legislature.maine.gov/Calendar on May 8), but just one of the bills, LD 1337, had 92 testifying for it and 477 testifying against, with two neutral testimonies. That is more than five times as many individuals who do not believe that these bills should be passed. I am not writing here to make an argument on the bills myself, but I strongly encourage readers to look at the words of their fellow Mainers themselves and check out some of the testimonies. The bills in question are LD 233, LD 868, LD 1002, LD 1134, LD 1704, LD 1337, LD 1432, and LD 380.

I have lived in East Vassalboro since I was six and have been an active member of the community, including stage managing a play at the local Grange with proceeds to benefit The Town Line. It is incredibly disheartening to me to see this paper, which should represent our community, showing blatant prejudice against myself and many other queer members of the community.

Kala Freytag Wistar,
East Vassalboro