STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE
_____
JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING JUNE 2025 AS PRIDE
MONTH
WHEREAS, the Stonewall riots that began on June 28, 1969 sparked the LGBTQ rights
movement in the United States; and
WHEREAS, during these riots, LGBTQ citizens, led by transgender women of color, rose
up and resisted police harassment that arose out of discriminatory criminal laws that have since
been declared unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, in the decades since the Stonewall riots, Pride celebrations have taken place
around the country every June to commemorate this historic turning point for the LGBTQ
community; and
WHEREAS, following the 1984 murder of Charlie Howard, a young gay man in Bangor,
LGBTQ Mainers came together to form the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, now known
as EqualityMaine; and
WHEREAS, in 1993, the Maine Civil Rights Act was amended to include explicit
protections for LGBTQ people, ensuring the law served to protect against bias-based threats,
harms and hate crimes; and
WHEREAS, as a national leader for LGBTQ equality, Maine has included protections for
LGBTQ people in parentage and antibullying laws; and
WHEREAS, Maine has continued to improve access to relationship equality, passing laws
that extend hospital visitation rights to same-sex couples in 1999, require health insurance
companies to offer to employers coverage for domestic partnerships in 2001, extend inheritance
rights and next of kin status for funeral and burial arrangements and conservator rights to same-
sex and unmarried heterosexual couples in 2004 and include domestic partnerships in the law
governing family medical leave in 2007; and
WHEREAS, the people of Maine voted to prohibit discrimination based on sexual
orientation and gender identity in 2005 and in favor of marriage equality in 2012; and
WHEREAS, in 2014, Maine was the first state in the nation whose highest court ruled it
unlawful for a school district to prohibit a transgender student from accessing the bathroom
consistent with that student's gender identity, interpreting for the first time amendments to the
Maine Human Rights Act that expanded protections to include sexual orientation; and
WHEREAS, since 2018, Maine has added a nonbinary gender designation for state
identification cards and birth certificates, prohibited transgender exclusions in health insurance
plans, banned the harmful practice of conversion therapy and secured state-level benefits for
veterans who were discharged from the military due to their sexual orientation or gender
identity; and
Page 1 - 132LR2565(01)
 WHEREAS, members of the LGBTQ community have served their neighbors and our
State as Legislators and local elected officials, leading on countless issues important to the
people of Maine; and
WHEREAS, despite years of progress, members of the LGBTQ community in the United
States and around the world still face discrimination, violence and proposed rollbacks in state
and federal protections, and bias-based crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity
are on the rise; and
WHEREAS, here in Maine there is a commitment to protecting the civil rights of LGBTQ
Mainers and to treating all people fairly and equally and with dignity and respect; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-second Legislature
now assembled in the First Special Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to recognize June 2025 as Pride Month as we continue to work toward full equality
for our LGBTQ family, friends and neighbors.
Page 2 - 132LR2565(01)