What a great, fair and balanced op-ed by Douglas Rooks concerning the trans athletes issue here in Maine (“Transgender questions don’t justify Trump’s abuse,” March 27).

On the one hand, he notes President Trump’s “hateful rhetoric” and unfair actions concerning transgender individuals. As the writer says, transgenderism has existed for centuries. I wish all could just put their biases aside and accept these folks for who they are. The choices they have made are not done lightly and they have gone through much pain and suffering to get to where they are.

As far as trans athletes go, that is an issue of its own and needs to be looked at fairly by the states and sports organizations, not the federal government. In a nutshell, that is our governor’s stand, that she is only standing by Maine’s Human Rights Act, which was amended in 2021. Those of us who feel, as does Mr. Rooks, that allowing transgender women to compete against biological women is not always fair to the women, need to work on this issue and come up with an equitable solution here in the state.

It is no doubt a difficult issue but just as Mr. Rooks says, it does not give President Trump the right to “vilify transgender people, illegally withholding Maine’s federal funding.”

Peyton Higgison
Brunswick