Throughout this past year, we fought against roll-backs to child labor laws, chemical reform protections, reproductive freedom, same-day voter registration, and the Maine Human Rights Act.

We sent you action alerts, and you sent thousands of messages to law-makers. Click on the title to read the original alert.

And the winner is (now, I know that most people start with number five, and count down to number one … and there’s a bunch of fan-fare and hoopla and suspense … but, I’m not going to do it that way).

ahem.

And the winner is…

1. beards?

February 23, 2011 – This alert was about this (now famous) quote by Governor LePage, “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.”

The Governor’s quote referred to a proposal to roll-back the chemical policy reform that Maine has been leading the nation with. Well, you said “not so fast, Governor.” You sent over 900 messages.

You helped to stop the roll-back.

2. Governor LePage Just signed the bill…

During the session, we fought hard to protect voting rights.  You sent almost 400 messages to legislators. The bill passed, and on June 21, 2011, Governor LePage signed a bill that would eliminate same-day voting rights in Maine. A group of Maine voters immediately gathered at the offices of the Maine Women’s Lobby to file an application to veto the bill. Throughout the summer, we all fought hard to protect voting rights in Maine.  And, on election day 2011, you stood proud with the rest of the Protect Maine Voting Rights Coalition to celebrate the successful people’s veto. The law that allows voters to register and vote on Election Day stands in Maine. Burn.

3. bathroom politics

The Maine Women’s Lobby has fought for civil rights for more than three decades. The victories – and critical protections – were hard won. During this past session, legislation was proposed that would undermine the Maine Human Rights Act and invalidate critical protections for transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. You sent almost 350 messages to the legislature asking them to defeat a proposal that would scale back the Maine Human Rights Act. The proposal was defeated. Oh Yeah.

4. don’t script me

We saw four bad anti-choice bills this past session. I mean big bad scary bills – the kind they pass in Texas (sorry about that to all my Texan friends). This particular piece was in response to a bill that would have required a woman to listen to a (biased) script before she could make choices about her own body. You sent over 320 messages to law-makers asking them to protect a woman’s choice of whether – and when – to have children. All four bills were defeated. We do things a little differently up here in Maine than they do in Texas (again, apologies).

5. What’s Next – Running with Scissors?

Now this one. wow. This was about the proposed roll-back to child labor laws. I know, huh?

The 1800′s called and they want their regulations back.

YOU sent 920 messages. You protected Maine laws that had existed for over one-hundred years. Mainers believe that for our youth, school is their job.

For more in the Child Labor law realm, you can read: the boss ate my homework, Is exploitation the new business friendly?, Jobz v. skool, and lots of others by visiting our online archive.

All said and done, this year alone YOU’VE sent over 3,000 messages to law-makers. GOOD JOB – and thank you. Subscribe right now.

Please contribute right now to help us continue this important work.

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Happy New Year,

Charlotte Warren
Associate Director

This week, Maine lawmakers stood firm against efforts to roll back access to reproductive health care and civil rights protections for transgendered Mainers.

The bills were defeated by wide margins—and for good reason.

In upholding Maine law, legislators put the health of Maine women and teens first and did not erect  unecessary barriers to comprehensive health care services.

In defending the Maine Human Rights Act, they refused to put the rights and safety of transgendered Mainers at risk. Click here to thank the Maine lawmakers who voted to protect the equality of all Mainers.

They took a stand for putting focus where it’s needed—jobs and the economy—rather than policing the personal, private decisions between women and their doctors.

Click here to find out how your legislators voted on these bills (the bill text is at the top of each page): L.D. 116, L.D. 924, L.D. 1457, and L.D. 1046.

The Bad (really, really bad).

Also this week, a majority of Maine lawmakers voted to eliminate Maine’s 38-year-old, same-day voter registration.

L.D. 1376 creates unnecessary barriers for prospective voters, and turns back the clock on our democracy.

Click here to see how your legislators voted on this bill.

The tabled.

The legislature is almost finished for the session, though there are critical decisions yet to make. But some bills were tabled and we’ll see them back on the table in January – including the attacks on collective bargaining.

One thing you can count on for sure – we’ll be right there fighting for you.

The Sun Journal editorialized against the decision.

And here’s what Sarah said, “The Sun Journal editorial stating that a transgender woman should use the men’s restroom misrepresents gender identity and discrimination.” (Go Sarah … Go Sarah.)

Check out the articles (I’d advise against perusing the reader comments – unless you’re lookin’ to get fired up) and then tell us what you think …

PS: I have to send a shout-out to Pam and her “Pam’s House Blend” blog. Check it out… and then come back and give us your take.