High School Runner Slams 'Bully' GOP Lawmaker For Attacking Race's Trans Winner
A high school runner in Maine who recently finished second to a transgender athlete in a school track meet is speaking out against a state lawmaker's public attack of her opponent, calling her behavior 'hateful' and 'ugly.'
'I didn't feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points,' Anelise Feldman of Yarmouth High School wrote of state Rep. Laurel Libby (R) in a letter to the editor published Wednesday in the Portland Press Herald.
Feldman's competitor, Soren Stark-Chessa, won the girls 800-meter and 1,600-meter events. Though Feldman finished behind Stark-Chessa, she emphasized the value of teamwork, community, and personal improvement she receives from the sport, which she said is just as important as where athletes finish.
'Last Friday, I ran the fastest 1,600-meter race I have ever run in middle school or high school track and earned varsity status by my school's standards,' she wrote. Her pride and joy weren't diminished, she added, because 'someone else finished in front of me.'
'No one was harmed by Soren's participation in the girls' track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are,' she wrote.
Libby publicly ripped the other girl's win as 'absolutely not fair' in an interview on Fox News last week.
'This same athlete has been dominating in girls cross-country running, in Nordic skiing, and now in track,' Libby said. 'We're talking about just one athlete. Just one of these biological male athletes pushing many, many of our young women out of the way in their ascent to the podium.'
Libby was censured last month by Maine's House after posting photos of a high school athlete on Facebook in February while criticizing the state for allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls sports.
The post generated threats against the child and despite being told that it put the child in danger, Libby kept the post up and continued to bring media attention to the child 'in an effort to advance her political agenda,' the House said in a resolution addressing her censure.
'It is a basic tenet of politics and good moral character that children should not be targeted by adult politicians, especially when that targeting could result in serious harm,' the House said.
Libby, who was first elected to the state legislature in 2020, lost her ability to vote on the House floor due to the censure. She has since asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, accusing the House of violating her First Amendment rights.
She did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment on Friday about Feldman's letter.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: In DeSantis' Florida, state budget booms as public workforce runs dry
