New England Women’s Solidarity (NEWS), a feminist organization, is sending a letter to Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) criticizing her for attacking Graham Platner’s comments about rape victims while housing violent trans-identifying men in women’s prisons.
[RELATED: Platner Hides Behind Allies as Mills Ad Forces Reckoning Over Past Remarks…]
“We’d like Mills to address the discrepancy between her criticism of Graham Platner’s past comments on rape victims & her refusal to acknowledge incarcerated Maine women who say they’re being sexually abused by male inmates,” said NEWS co-director Jennifer Gingrich on X.
“We struggle to understand why your concern about the sexual abuse of women doesn’t extend to those who are incarcerated. You continue to ignore the cries of women like the many inmates at the Maine Correctional Center who say they are being harassed, groped, and threatened with sexual violence by sexually intact trans-identifying male convicts,” said the letter to Gov. Mills.
NEWS highlighted the hypocrisy of Mills’ campaign advertisements criticizing Platner’s comments about rape victims. While Platner’s statements were just that, merely statements, Mills’ policies have actually placed women at risk of sexual assault.
The letter revealed that NEWS reached out weeks ago, requesting that Mills meet to discuss the women suffering abuse in the state’s prisons, but the governor allegedly ignored the request.
The issue of trans-identifying inmates in Maine returned to prominence after The Maine Wire published the account of inmate Katie Mountaine, who described the alleged threats and sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Andrew Balcer.
Balcer is a six-foot-one, 310 lb. man who murdered both his parents and the family dog with a knife. After his conviction and incarceration, he announced that he would be identifying as a woman.
Mills and Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) Commissioner Randall Liberty allowed Balcer to move into housing with women, where he has allegedly shared a cell and even a bed with female inmates.
On Wednesday, The Maine Wire spoke with Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Philips) outside the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where both Balcer and Mountain are housed.
He talked about his meeting with Mountain and his recent meeting with U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine Andrew Benson regarding the upcoming investigation into Maine for potentially violating the constitutional rights of female inmates by forcing them to share living space with males.
Not many wish to even think about a man who murdered his own Mother and Father with a large knife in cold blood. Thanks to the Maine Wire for continuing to illuminate the injustice suffered by women who have to share prison space with this individual and have to suffer the realistic fear that he might murder them next.
Do they put women who think they are men in men’s prisons? If not, why not Janet.
Mills is not going to touch any of these issues and her electorate is too dumb to ask her. If she will not defend women from men in women’s sports what makes you think she cares about the prisons?