Maine Corporations, Once Proud Progressive Donors, Tread Lightly Amid Gov. Mills’ Clash with President Trump

Ever since President Donald Trump went full Don Rickles on Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) at the White House, Maine has taken center stage in a national debate over the morality and legality of forcing girls to compete athletically against males who say they’re transgender. But the political fight, more broadly, orbits 2019 changes Maine made to the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA). These changes transformed “gender identity” into a legal construct which could be used to impose left-wing transgender ideology on public institutions. Following those changes, transgender ideology became the de facto state religion for Maine’s public schools, government agencies, and virtually all institutions that rely on taxpayer funding.

Although Gov. Mills appears keen to defend Maine’s policies at the risk of losing significant federal funding, the recent national attention on Maine has caused Democratic and left-leaning politicians at the state and national levels, as well as political groups and some Maine businesses, to recalibrate their positions. These changes mirror the national movement by major institutions away from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies to merit-based policies and toward political neutrality on culturally divisive issues. Those changes, already underway for more than a year, were greatly accelerated with the inauguration of President Trump and his rapid assertion of executive branch power.

Immediately upon taking office, Trump issued two Executive Orders that brought Maine’s conception of “gender identity” under the MHRA into direct conflict with the federal government. On Jan. 20, he issued “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and on Feb. 5, he issued, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” The Mills Administration responded almost immediately with a declaration that Maine would ignore the Executive Orders in favor of following the MHRA, effectively nullifying federal law and asserting the superiority of state law.

The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) issued a memo instructing public schools to disregard the Trump administration order requiring the protection of female-only spaces and activities. Simultaneously, the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA), the body that governs high school athletics in Maine, said it would still force female athletes to compete against male athletes. Those policies and statements set the stage for the now-famous confrontation between Trump and Gov. Mills at the White House, in which Mills put Maine’s federal funding at risk by declaring that she would fight Trump’s policies in court and continue to ignore federal law in favor of the MHRA.

But long before Americans across the country were exposed to the Maine’s radicalism on gender ideology, Maine’s Democrat-controlled legislature and Democrat governor had spent six years implementing a panoply of far left policies rooted in transgenderism. Mills changed MaineCare rules to allow taxpayer-funded transgender procedures, including for minors. She signed legislation allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to receive sex-change hormone therapy without parental consent. She signed a law last year that permits out-of-state adults to bring minors to the state for gender transition treatments and will confer legal immunity on those adults if the minors’ parents object to the process. Years earlier, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) led an effort to ban “conversion therapy” and the resulting law practically requires therapists to encourage gender transitions.

Some of the policies the Mills Administration and her progressive allies in the legislature have implemented have resulted in truly absurd outcomes. For example, on at least one occasion, Mills’ Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty ordered a 245 lb male prisoner — convicted of murdering his parents and family dog in cold blood — to be housed in a women’s prison. In another case, the Department of Health and Human Services even developed a “chestfeeding” initiative that required a $50,000 state purchase of larger nursing bras for seriously obese “birthing parents.”

Following state leaders in Augusta, Maine’s school administrators have adopted equally radical policies, including policies that infringe on parental rights. In addition to decorating nearly every classroom with the ideological symbols of transgender ideology, dozens of school boards have adopted policies designed to conceal information from parents about their kids. Reports have surfaced alleging that 57 Maine school districts have policies that allow them to withhold information from parents about students undergoing gender transition counseling. According to a whistleblower report from Do No Harm, Maine’s hospitals are providing sex-change services to minors and seeing a shocking rise in incidences of self-harm among patients receiving so-called “gender affirming care.” In one extreme example, a mother discovered that her 13-year-old daughter had been secretly counseled into a gender transition by an LGBTQ public school social worker.

At the center of all these radical transgender policies has been a network of progressive groups—largely funded by George Soros and the Arabella Advisors network of funds—but chief among them has been a far-left non-governmental organization known as Equality Maine. While Equality Maine began has a somewhat mainstream pro-Democrat Party group aimed at legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine, the organization has transmogrified into a catchall advocacy group for extreme left-wing policies, including late-term abortion and sex-change procedures for minors.

Equality Maine, which operates as both a 501(c)3 and a 501(c)4, is the former employer of House Majority Leader Rep. Matt Moonen (D-Portland). Led by self-identified Queer Trans Goth Princess Gia Drew, the 501(c)3 side of the organization reported raising $769,859 in 2022, the most recent year for which tax records are available. Until recently, the group has projected the image of an organization with broad, mainstream support from some of Maine’s largest corporations. In 2023, the group claimed via its website that it was sponsored by Central Maine Power, General Dynamics, Wex, and L.L. Bean.

Following Maine Wire reports detailing Equality Maine’s stated legislative goals in the last session of the legislature, a number of companies disappeared from the organizations sponsor list, with some emailing the Maine Wire to claim that they did not, in fact, sponsor the organization and were falsely listed as sponsors on its website. At some point last year, Equality Maine decided to scrub its list of corporate donors from its website completely. The disappearance of the formerly impressive corporate donor list from Equality Maine’s website suggests that corporate giving to transgender advocacy groups has gone from a required tithe to a potentially toxic affiliation. Currently, the group does not list any corporate sponsors.

As of May 2024, the following businesses were listed sponsors on Equality Maine’s donor page, though the Maine Wire has no evidence to suggest that these businesses in fact financially supported the group.

Allagash Brewing Company (Visionary Sponsor), Bangor Savings Bank and Hannaford (Champion Sponsors), Big Tree Hospitality and Wex (Vanguard Sponsor), Bank of America, Coffee by Design, Diversified Communications, Norway Savings Bank, and TD Bank (Trailblazer Sponsors), AthenaHealth, Berman & Simmons Trial Attorneys, cPort Credit Union, Gardner Real Estate Group, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Martin’s Point Health Care, and Town & Country Federal Credit Union (Advocate Sponsors).

The Maine Wire reached out by phone and email to the companies previously listed as sponsors. While many did not respond, and a few held firm in their support for the organization, others appear to have walked back their support, sensing the shift in the culture.

(Note: Several organizations have previously asserted that they exclusively support the 501(c)(3) activities of the group rather than its 501(c)(4) activities. However, publicly available tax documents reveal that staff from EqualityMaine tend to receive half of their salaries from each entity. This implies that, despite the different tax classifications, there effectively exists a single organization. Consequently, a donation made to the 501(c)(3) not only supports the staff but also the political endeavors of the 501(c)(4), even if contributing to the 501(c)(3) technically aligns with corporate giving policies.)

Coffee by Design, a Portland-based artisan coffee company, was the only business to respond with a resounding “yes” when asked if they still sponsor EQME, affirming their unequivocal support for the organization. (The boutique coffee company also sold products last year stylized around Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and pledged to give a portion of their revenues to Harris’ campaign. Per Federal Election Commission records, owner Mary Allen Lindemann gave $19,830.04 to the Harris Victory Fund, though the records do not specify whether that was coffee money.)

“We are at the African Fine Coffee Conference but wanted to confirm that yes! we are longtime supporters of Equality Maine. In fact, we are donating 10% of today’s Economic Blackout sales to Equality Maine,” said the coffee company in an email on Friday.

Although The Maine Wire reached out to Norway Savings Bank by phone and email, they did not respond. However, a February 21 Facebook post (featuring pictures of minors) from EqualityMaine, thanking the bank for its long-term support, suggests that it continues to be a sponsor.

A representative from TD Bank responded to an email inquiry, confirming that while they do support the organization’s work with older adults through the TD Charitable Foundation, they do not have a corporate sponsorship with Equality Maine as a whole.

Bangor Savings Bank also responded to the inquiry, confirming that while they did partner with Equality Maine in the past, they have not financially supported the organization since 2021.

“We have partnered with and financially supported Equality Maine’s programming efforts. However, since 2021, the bank has not been a financial sponsor of Equality Maine, nor have we intended to support its policy and advocacy work. Our commitment remains steadfast in supporting initiatives that align with our mission to create positive and lasting community impact,” said a bank representative.

The Town and County Federal Credit Union likewise confirmed that they do not sponsor the non-profit.

The Berman & Simmons Trial Attorneys confirmed over the phone that the organization no longer supports Equality Maine.

Diversified Communications informed the Maine Wire over the phone that their employees select which non-profits they will fund, and that Equality Maine was not among those selected in 2025.

None of the other corporations responded to multiple attempts to contact them.

In the last legislative session, EqualityMaine lobbied for LD 535, the bill to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to access sex-change surgeries and drugs even in cases where their parents object to them undergoing the life-altering procedures. The group also backed LD 1040, which codified Mills’ executive changes to Medicaid rules so that MaineCare is required to cover sex-change drugs and surgeries. And they supported LD 1735, which conferred legal immunity on any adult who trafficked a minor into Maine for the purposes of undergoing a sex-change.

More recently, Equality Maine has begun distributing printable cards online that instruct Maine students that they are allowed to demand that school officials refer to them using cross-sex pronouns. The cards also allege, incorrectly, that the Maine Supreme Court case Doe v. RSU 26 means male students can demand to use the female restroom at school. Following the vote by Democrats in the House of Representatives to strip Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) of her right to speak and vote on the floor of the House, Equality Maine thanked those lawmakers in a social media post.