Franco-American Day and an ERA Based on Perceptions: Legislative Scouting Report for April 23

The Montreal Canadiens are in a playoff series and Wednesday is Franco-American Day in the legislature. It’s a good week to have French-Canadian roots. On the regular House Calendar on April 23 are the final votes on the perceived gender, race, identity Equal Rights Amendment. It’s shaping up to be a busy day in the capital. C’est la vie.

Franco-American Day is a tradition in the legislature to recognize the roots of many Mainers, particularly those in Aroostook County and the city of Lewiston. There will be a lot of pomp and circumstance and bilingual flair to open the day. That will be followed by many legislative sentiments and speeches. After that, the House and Senate will go to their respective Chambers and get down to regular business. If the Habs were in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals, I’d argue that Franco-American Day could be considered an emergency. They are not and this culturally themed session event is not an emergency, but that how les bons temps roulent in the Governor’s special emergency session.

The most controversial bill on the docket in the House tomorrow is LD 260, “RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish That All Maine Residents Have Equal Rights Under the Law.” It is an amendment to the Maine constitution, and it requires an affirmative 2/3 vote of the legislature.

It won’t get a 2/3 affirmative vote tomorrow. Previously on the initial vote, all Republicans and Rep. Danni O’Halloran (D-Brewer) and Rep. David Rollins (D-Augusta) voted against the bill. All other Democrats voted for LD 260 and even co-sponsored the bill. There were a lot of speeches on both sides of the issue. The Democrats on the left side of the aisle framed this bill as it being about women’s rights and just like the federal Equal Rights Amendment. How could anyone vote against that?

It’s probably because those voting against the bill actually read the bill. Even if you just read the summary of the LD 260 you would see that it says:

“This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution of Maine to prohibit the denial or abridgment by the State or any political subdivision of the State of equal rights based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, physical or mental disability, ancestry or national origin of an individual.”

The key phrase is ‘actual or perceived’ in the language of this bill. That means that once this bill is added into Maine’s constitution you would be infringing on someone’s civil rights if you do not play into how they ‘perceive’ themselves to be with regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, physical or mental disability, ancestry, or national origin of an individual. This bill simple seeks to compel you, via the Maine constitution, to participate in their delusions…I mean perceptions. It is quite clear that the emperor has no clothes, and this bill would eventually criminalize anyone who says he doesn’t. This bill would also codify men perceiving themselves to be women playing in women’s sports. Game. Set. Match.

Thankfully, this version of the legislature’s normal ERA bill, based on immutable characteristics, is on death row and its number is up tomorrow. That number will definitely be less than 99, or 2/3, of representatives voting.

The Senate will be voting on bills previously voted on in the House for concurrence. Concurrence is when both the House and Senate vote the same way on the same version of a bill. The bill then goes back to the other chamber for an additional vote and final enactment vote.

The Maine Wire will be brushing up on our French in anticipation of Franco-American Day and watching the regular business of the legislature as it happens in real time.

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