Dessi Gomez
Steve Doocy interviewed Maine State Rep. Katrina Smith on “Fox & Friends” to analyze the state’s goal of becoming “a transgender safe haven.”
The state legislature is considering a bill allowing out-of-state teenagers and minor children to get access to gender-affirming care without informing their parents and blocking police from returning the children to their parents. Maine would receive temporary custody of the kids seeking these surgeries.
“Critics say the bill goes so far they’re calling it state-sanctioned kidnapping,” Doocy said before introducing the Republican Smith to talk more about the bill. “So what Maine is saying is OK, if you’re thinking about changing your gender, and you don’t want to tell your parents and you want to get it done, come to Maine, we’ll take care of them. Am I missing anything?”
Smith voiced skepticism about the process and the bill, also known as LD 1735 and officially titled “An Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Healthcare.” The bill, introduced by Rep. Laurie Osher (D-Orono), would cover children who want to receive hormone blockers or surgeries without permission from their parents and despite whatever their native state laws outline.
“Maine is going to open the doors to this and open a door to kids who meet someone on Tik Tok, they get the idea that they need the surgery or hormone replacement therapy, and they’re going to grab a bus or someone’s going to come and pick them up and they’re going to bring them to Maine and a parent is not going to do a thing about it,” Smith said.
Doocy questioned where the children would go if they did receive the gender-affirming care, suggesting that returning to their parents would be quite a shock.
“They may go home to mom and dad because they realize the mistake they’ve made and they need the person who loves them to take care of them, but I think otherwise they’re going to stay in the fantasy world that that they get involved in when they go through this gender transition when they go through counseling that only looks at one option for their dysphoria or their fears or whatever they’re searching for,” Smith continued. “The state of Maine has said come to us, we’ll take care of you. I don’t know how long that’s gonna last or how they’ll go to school or anything.”
Smith thinks the people of Maine are “overwhelmed” with this policy.
“They know that this is really just making decisions for kids and pushing them to make decisions that they’re not ready to make,” she added. “I think even Democrats, not maybe the socialist ones, but other ones, are thinking this isn’t a good idea. And there’s been a huge outcry. The committee members who are going to vote have heard a lot over the last week, and I think they should. They’re the ones who put this bill up. They’re the ones who are bringing it to Maine when the people have not said this is what they want.”
The Maine Judiciary Committee delayed further discussion on the bill and postponed the vote to Jan. 25.
