LD260 proposes adding an “Equality of Rights” amendment to the Maine Constitution that would bar the State or any political subdivision from denying or restricting “equal rights” on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.
The Maine State House of Representatives rejected LD260 on April 23, 2025 by a vote of 74 to 65 (a two-thirds majority of the House was required for the bill to pass). We have assigned pluses to the nays because this amendment is both unnecessary and dangerous. Our rights are already protected under the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, which secure equal protection for every individual—not for groups defined by subjective or perceived traits. Measures such as LD260 open the door to the same radical reinterpretations seen at the federal level, where broad “equality” language has been used to advance anti-constitutional policies on everything from abortion to enforced gender ideology and manufactured “equity” outcomes. The underlying problem is that such amendments rest on the false premise that government can redefine human nature and erase the distinctions rooted in the laws of nature. Rather than ensuring equal justice, measures such as LD260 invite judicial activism and empower the state to impose ideological mandates under the guise of protecting rights.