EqualityMaine

04/05/2026

We’re sending thanks and gratitude to the one and only Betsy Sweet, who is retiring from full time-advocacy work after 44 years at the State House. EqualityMaine awarded Betsy the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 for her tireless work on behalf of Maine’s LGBTQ+ Community. Congratulations on a historic career and best wishes for a restful retirement!

Betsy Sweet is the founder and Principal of Moose Ridge Associates, which since 1990 has promoted state legislation supporting the interests of women, older adults, people with disabilities, mental health services, victims of abuse and discrimination, and the environment. She is known as a long-time advocate and spokesperson for civil rights. She did the research that led to and then helped write Maine’s first Clean Election law and the first Family Medical Leave Act in the country. She has worked on every state budget for the last 35 years to ensure funding for crucial services for Maine people.

Betsy also serves as a hate crime and sexual harassment prevention trainer, facilitator and organizational development consultant.

Thanks to fierce advocates like Betsy, our mission of protecting and advancing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Maine is never carried out alone.

04/03/2026

Our Safer Schools Conference 2026 was a joyous success! It was an incredible day of learning, community, and action, with over 200 attendees representing 24 schools from across Maine.

Students chose from a variety of workshops ranging from Radical Art, to Finding Q***r Joy in Difficult Times, to CAREing for your Rural High School, and learned about valuable resources and organizations available to them. Educators and youth service providers attended workshops like Advocacy in a Shifting Landscape, with our friends at GLAD Law and Portland Outright.

In a post-event survey, one student stated that it was “the most safe and welcome” they’ve ever felt. That’s why we do the work we do: to make sure LGBTQ+ youth have safe spaces to be themselves and thrive.🏳️‍🌈

04/02/2026

Join us Thursday, April 16, 5:30-7:30 PM at the Crewe Center for the Arts for an evening celebrating resilience and care, featuring stories from EqualityMaine, Maine TransNet, Greater Portland Family Promise, and the Center for Grieving Children. The program includes live music by Lillie Pearlman, Ed Pearlman and Noah Fishman, a folk string trio with roots in Scottish, Swedish, and jazz music; informational displays about partnering organizations; and artwork by artists connected to the Greater Portland Family Promise and Center for Grieving Children communities. At 6:15 PM, a Gallery Conversation brings together song, poetry, and community dialogue. Light refreshments will be available, and the event is free and open to the public.

Presented by the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery, the exhibition Even As We Grieve is centered on Studio B Director Peter Bruun's artistic journey after his daughter's overdose death in 2014. Alongside Peter's work are 60 pieces created in community workshops with eight Portland-area nonprofits doing essential work for some of our most vulnerable neighbors, and 20 audio stories from community members.

04/02/2026

04/01/2026

When the ACLU asked us if we knew of any LGBTQ+ young people who would want to travel to DC to lobby Congress, we immediately thought of Kayden from our New Leaders Project program.

We wanted to uplift and share this video of Kayden using his advocacy and leadership skills to tell his story. Way to go, Kayden!

His mom wrote to us about this experience and said, “I want to again thank you and everyone at EqualityMaine who have been part of our lives and have helped Kayden find his voice. I will always be forever grateful to you all and to everything you do to support our community.”

As ACLU said, “Being a kid is hard enough. Trans kids don't need politicians interfering with their medical care, participation in school sports, or any aspect of their lives.”

03/31/2026

Today, on Transgender Day of Visibility, the Supreme Court ruled to limit Colorado's law banning conversion therapy. This is a heart-wrenching ruling, especially for the many LGBTQ+ people who have survived conversion therapy and know first-hand how harmful it is. No one should feel ashamed for who they are, especially LGBTQ+ youth. You're not broken and you don't need to be fixed. You're beautiful being you. To all the survivors out there: we know this news is distressing. Remember that you’re not alone. ❤️‍🔥

Here’s what you need to know:

1️⃣Maine’s law banning conversion therapy is still in effect.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Ryan Fecteau passed the Legislature with bipartisan support and was signed into law in 2019, and prohibits licensed professionals from advertising and administering conversion therapy methodology to minors.

2️⃣This Supreme Court case is about how conversion therapy can be regulated.
It’s a narrow legal question about whether state laws prohibiting licensed therapists from performing conversion therapy on minors violate the First Amendment.

3️⃣Conversion therapy remains a dangerous and discredited practice.
It has been condemned by every major medical association in the country, and research has shown that it poses devastating health risks for LGBTQ+ young people.

4️⃣Conversion therapy is still malpractice and consumer fraud.
Survivors still have legal options to fight back against the harms of conversion therapy, including consumer fraud claims, medical malpractice, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Youth are still protected from conversion therapy in Maine - and we will always fight to keep it that way.

03/31/2026

Today is Trans Day of Visibility, and MaineTransNet has two ways trans folks can connect with community today.

From 11:00AM-3:00PM, staff will be on-site at the Equality Community Center - ECC for an Open House with community connection, giveaways, and snacks.

Then, at 7:00PM they will be livestreaming “Jack & YaYa” to connect with friends statewide: Join in at tinyurl.com/TDOV2026MTN or by scanning the QR code.

03/31/2026

03/30/2026

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we wanted to share some books to read this month and beyond!

If you’ve ever read Octavia Butler’s dystopian novels, read POSITIVE OBSESSION to learn more about how her life shaped her writing. In this outstanding work, Susana M. Morris places Butler’s story firmly within the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her life: the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, women’s liberation, q***r rights, and Reaganomics.

“I want to be remembered as a woman . . . who dared to be a catalyst of change.” Political pioneer Shirley Chisholm—activist, member of the House of Representatives, and former presidential candidate—was a woman who consistently broke barriers and inspired generations of American women, and especially women of color. UNBOUGHT AND UNBOSSED is her story, told in her own words—a thoughtful and informed look at her rise from the streets of Brooklyn to the halls of Congress.

After the success of A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Lorraine Hansberry used her prominence in myriad ways: challenging President Kennedy and his brother to take bolder stances on Civil Rights, supporting African anti-colonial leaders, and confronting the romantic racism of the Beat poets and Village hipsters. Though she married a man, she identified as le***an and, risking censure and the prospect of being outed, joined one of the nation’s first le***an organizations. Hansberry associated with many activists, writers, and musicians, including Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, among others. LOOKING FOR LORRAINE is a powerful insight into Hansberry’s extraordinary life—a life that was tragically cut far too short.

03/30/2026

The Nature Based Education Consortium (NBEC) Advocacy Working Group and the Wabanaki Youth Policy Initiative (WYPI) are gathering signatures in support of LD 1474, An Act to Strengthen the Teaching of Wabanaki Studies in Maine Schools. LD 1474 was passed by the legislature in 2025, and is now sittin...

03/26/2026

In case you missed it, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) passed a new policy that bans transgender and intersex women from participating in Olympic Games, starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Mandatory gene testing will be required for all athletes.

While the IOC claims to care about “fairness and safety” in women’s sports, we know that there will be serious consequences for all competitors: increased scrutiny of athletes’ bodies will impact anyone whose looks don’t fall into the narrow box of what a stereotypical woman looks like, and will disproportionately impact Black women and women of color, as well as intersex athletes.

Despite the intense political and social focus on transgender participation, the number of trans women who have actually competed in the Olympics over the last 130 years is next to zero. So why is there so much focus on gender policing? As trans athlete Chris Mosier explains, it’s all about using trans people as a political pawn for politicians to drive wedges between us and distract and control us while they amass power.

03/26/2026