#CommunityVoicesForChange - Maine Women's Lobby

30 mins - First Aired February 23, 2026 on #WMPG-FM
Host: Richard Rudolph

"The podcast for February 23, 2026 is an interview of Destie Hoffman Sprague who is the Executive Director of the Maine's Women Lobby. The show focused on a referendum question that will be on the Maine ballot this coming fall which would restrict transgender students’ access to school sports and facilities. Destie first talked about why the League is involved in this issue and why it has joined a coalition to defeat the proposal. The coalition contends the referendum will increase bullying and harassment, cost schools millions in potential ligation and undermine public education. According to Destie the referendum is spearheaded by the group Protect Girls Support in Maine which seeks to mandate sports by sex, requiring public school students to play on sports teams based on the sex listed on their birth certificates. Destie believes the effort to restrict transgender students from playing sports in Maine is primarily driven by the Trump Administration which has threatened to pull federal education funding if the state does not ban transgender girls from female sports. Maine's Governor, Janet Mills, Attorney General Aaron Frey, and the Maine Principals’ Association are opposed. In closing, Destie encouraged listeners to get involved in the fight to defeat this measure. which would undermine Maine's existing #HumanRightsAct which protects #GenderIdentity."

Listen:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/maine-s-women-lobby--70154733

#MainePol #USPol #CommunityRadio #BoycottUline #GLBTQ #GLBTQRights #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TrumpSucks #FuckMAGABillionaireTrash
#SendBillionairesToMars

Call for new Human Rights law in Wales amid fears of US‑style crackdown

Plaid Cymru MS Sioned Williams is urging the Senedd to back a new Human Rights Bill for Wales, saying global events show how quickly protections can be weakened. She said a “powerful and co‑ordinated movement” is trying to redraw “who deserves dignity and protection”, and warned that Wales cannot assume its own rights framework is safe.

Her comments come after reports from the US of violent confrontations involving ICE agents, which she says show how easily governments can restrict freedoms when rights are not legally enforceable.

Warning Wales is not immune

Ms Williams said Wales has its own human rights failings, pointing to a Welsh Government report which described the detention and hospitalisation of people with learning disabilities and autistic people as a “human rights scandal”.

Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru, said too many people in Wales still face barriers that breach basic rights.

“It’s not enough to say that human rights are already regarded in Wales, when they’re not enforceable,” she said. “For too many people with learning disabilities and autistic people, their rights are being breached, right here in Wales.”

She said the problems extend across society, including gender‑based violence, poverty, structural racism, and the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

“A Human Rights Bill for Wales would ensure ministers and public bodies are bound by law to uphold the human rights of civilians,” she said. “It would improve accountability and make rights clearer and more accessible.”

What the Bill would do

The proposal calls for Wales to write key international human rights treaties directly into Welsh law. That would allow people to challenge public bodies in court if their rights are breached.

Ms Williams said the move was promised in the Welsh Labour Programme for Government but has not been delivered.

Her proposal is a Members’ Legislative Proposal, meaning it is non‑binding but will show the level of support a full Bill might receive.

Opposing voices

Reform UK has repeatedly argued for the UK to scrap or scale back human rights legislation, saying current laws are too broad and restrict government powers. The party has called for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and replace existing protections with a new domestic framework.

A Reform UK spokesperson has previously said the current system “puts the rights of criminals and illegal migrants above the rights of the British public”, and that the UK needs “a simpler, tougher approach”.

The Welsh Government has not yet responded to Ms Williams’ proposal.

David Cameron’s speech

October 2014

In his speech to the Tory party conference today, the prime minister David Cameron pledged to get rid of the Human Rights Act #HRA and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.  Problem?  Where is it?  A bit like Lewis Carroll’s snark, it is often spoken of but never actually seen.  It has been talked about off and on for around 7 years now but it still hasn’t seen the light of day.

Second problem: how will it be any different to the HRA it will replace?  It will presumably contain many of the clauses about fair trials, no torture, knowing what one is accused of, no slavery, arbitrary arrest etc. etc. that are contained in the HRA.

It is likely that the ire is directed at some individual cases which get the tabloid press in a stew such as Abu Qatada.  The issue here of course was that he could not be deported because it was likely that either, he would be tortured or, evidence gained by torture would be used against him.

The problem is the same as it always has been with the act.  It is European and in the fevered atmosphere of anti-Europeanism stoked up by Ukip, anything from Europe is a bad thing.  The second problem is the media – or sections of it – who dislike the act and print all manner of misinformation and disinformation about its rulings.  They don’t like it because the question of privacy has a higher standing under the act than they would like.  As we have seen with News International – and are beginning to see with the Mirror Group newspapers – newspapers are sold by penetrating the private lives of the famous by a variety of dubious and illegal means.

The benefits of the act, such as that reported today of people in Essex who were able to use it to take action against the police, are seldom reported.

Unless we pull out of the Council of Europe, we will still be subject to the rulings of the European Court.  It is strange to report that with all the venom and anger directed against Strasbourg nearly 99% of cases applications against the UK are struck out.  That is because we have good legal systems here.  The HRA was brought in to stop the trail of people having to go to Europe to get justice.

#AmnestyInternational #conservatives #ECHR #EuropeanConventionOnHumanRights #HRA #HumanRightsAct #MagnaCarta #Salisbury

This Maine school district passed trans-inclusive policies. Online comments forced it to up security

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/maine-school-district-security-transgender

Vote these f*ckers out!

Republican lawmakers seek changes to #Maine #HumanRightsAct in #TitleIX compliance effort

Proposed amendments to the #antidiscrimination law revolve around #transgender student-athletes' right to compete in girls and women's sports.

https://www.wmtw.com/article/bill-remove-gender-identity-maine-human-rights-act/64354378
#TransgenderAthletes #MainePol #USPol #TransgenderRights #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransAthletes #ProtectTransKids #ProtectTransYouth #MaineHumanRightsAct