Days after marching in the Portland Pride Parade, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is pledging to fight federal attacks on transgender Americans as he heads into his nationally watched general election against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
In an exclusive interview with Wednesday AdvocatePlatner welcomed the support from the Christopher Street Project, a political action committee dedicated to electing transgender rights advocates. Tyler Huck, the group’s executive director, said Platner represents the kind of Democrats needed not only to build majorities in Congress but also to protect the rights of transgender people from being stripped away in negotiations.
“We are very excited to support Mr. Graham in the Senate race,” Huck said. defender Alongside Platner. “It’s clear that the only way we’re going to take back our rights and freedoms and push back against all these attacks on our community, whether it’s a standalone anti-trans bill or a poison pill in a spending fight or any bill that attacks the transgender community, is to take back the House and the Senate.”
Mr. Platner, a Marine Corps and Army veteran and oyster farmer, won Maine’s Democratic primary on June 9 and will challenge Mr. Collins in November. The contest could help determine control of the Senate.
christopher street project The support comes two days after Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Platner at an event Monday in Portland. The association’s president, Alexis McGill Johnson, endorsed him as a champion of reproductive freedom, in contrast to Collins’ position, which called for the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who he later voted to overturn. Roe vs. Wade.
Collins chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, where Republicans are trying to include restrictions on transgender health care and other LGBTQ+ protections in federal spending legislation.
Huck said suspending these provisions should be one of Platner’s top priorities if elected. “A poison pill is used in nearly every budget proposal, whether it’s attacking the health care of transgender children, military families, or attacking the rights and freedoms of trans federal employees,” they said.
Haq called for a “clean budget” with no anti-trans provisions. He also called on Congress to protect patients’ personal information as the Trump administration seeks records from hospitals and health care providers about transgender patients.
“Regardless of whether you’re transgender or not, no one wants the federal government to look at your patient’s identifiable information to figure out what they like and what they don’t like,” Haq said. “This is completely over the top and people are really scared.”
Asked if Huck’s priorities were measures he could support, Platner agreed. “Yes, that’s true. It definitely will be,” he said.
Plattner said the proposal shows how protecting one marginalized community can strengthen broader civil rights and privacy protections. “When you defend the rights of one group, you’re actually defending the rights of everyone. I’m a big believer in that,” he said.
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Platner rejects Democratic setback on transgender rights
Plattner described attacks on transgender Americans as an effort by wealthy political interests to distract voters from economic inequality, the nation’s health care system and other structural problems.
“This is just a mechanism for people with a lot of money to come in and divide us all over culture war issues so that we don’t sit down and talk about raising taxes,” he said.
Graham Platner (center) marches in the Portland Pride Parade with his wife (left) and Tyler Huck.Provided by: Christopher Street Project
Plattner said Democrats cannot build an effective political movement while treating the rights of marginalized communities as disposable. “You can’t treat politics as a game where you sometimes sell people out, sometimes you throw people under the bus for short-term gain,” he says. “Politics that is willing to sell out anyone will eventually sell out everyone.”
The endorsement comes as Democrats continue to debate how to strongly defend transgender Americans after the 2024 election. Some party strategists and elected officials have urged candidates to distance themselves from transgender rights issues, particularly participation in school sports.
Platner rejected that approach. “You can be cowardly about it and play their game, or you can be a coward and understand that transgender rights are human rights,” he said. “Human rights cover absolutely everyone.”
The U.S. Supreme Court could issue opinions Thursday in two pending cases involving state laws that ban transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ school sports teams. During oral argument in January, Little vs Hecox and State of West Virginia vs. BPJthe court’s conservative majority appears to be inclined to support at least some restrictions.
Mr. Platner said voters should understand the controversy as a “manufactured moral panic” designed to divide working-class communities. That’s why he said presidential candidates should stand firmly behind the LGBTQ+ community without being risk-averse or apologetic.
“I can’t stand this kind of foul-mouthed, wishy-washy talk,” he said. Regardless of whether he backs down on transgender rights, he said Republicans will portray him as a left-wing extremist. Platner noted that support for “Medicare for All” and higher taxes on billionaires already provides opponents with ample fodder for such attacks.
“I don’t care if they attack me,” he said. “If people want to follow me and say, ‘It’s wrong to think that people are free and equal and should be treated with dignity,’ let them make that claim.”
“That’s a fascist argument. That’s a bigot argument,” Plattner continued. “If fascists and bigots hate me, I welcome it.”
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Protecting LGBTQ+ Soldiers and Veterans
Platner also worked to protect transgender service members and LGBTQ+ veterans.
President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to exclude transgender people from military service. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently ordered LGBTQ+ veteran care coordinators to be redesignated general care coordinators and directed facilities to eliminate gender identity-related initiatives.
Platner called the acts “abhorrent and absolutely abhorrent.”
“This is an ideological White House that is pushing its own ideology and biases and using its power within federal agencies where it feels powerful to further its goals,” he said.
Graham Platner marches in the Portland Pride Parade on June 20, 2026. Sam T/Flickr
Plattner warned that the administration’s military policy reflects a broader effort to define who qualifies as a “true American.” She linked the treatment of transgender soldiers to what she described as the Trump administration’s exclusion of women and people of color from key military positions.
“They have a vision of who true Americans are, and they’re going to use power and use the military as a way to further that vision,” he said. Platner, who said he receives medical care through the Veterans Administration, said protections and specialized services for LGBTQ+ veterans should be written into federal law rather than left to agency policies that a new administration could repeal.
“That’s why we need people in the U.S. Senate and Congress who are trying to pass legislation and want to protect these types of services and make sure that they’re not just regulations within the agency, but actually federally mandated by law,” he said.
He also called on Congress to appropriate funding specifically for these programs so the government can’t simply eliminate them.
“If you serve your country with honor and dignity and respect, we’re not going to treat you that way right now just because we don’t like who you are,” Platner said, explaining the administration’s position. “That shouldn’t be an option.”
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Platner’s past tests his promise
Platner’s support of the Christopher Street Project is especially important given his checkered history with the LGBTQ+ community. In October, defender News broke that Platner repeatedly used anti-gay slurs and degrading language in Reddit posts written between 2016 and 2021. Platner acknowledged that the Reddit account and comments were his own.
he said. defender At the time, he said his words were “indefensible” and apologized for using them. “Today, I find that kind of thing abhorrent,” Platner said in October. “And I’m sorry for using you all this time.”
Despite these controversies and other damaging revelations about his past, Democratic voters in Maine appear to have largely accepted Mr. Plattner’s apology or decided that his past actions should not disqualify him.
Platner won about 72% of the June 9 primary vote, defeating leading candidates including Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign but remained on the ballot. The decisive result suggests that the controversy has not severed Mr. Plattner’s ties to many of the state’s Democratic voters.
His reception at Portland Pride over the weekend provided another sign, although not scientific, that many LGBTQ+ mainstreamers are ready to support him.
Huck said several thousand people in attendance greeted Platner enthusiastically at the gala. “Someone came up to me at the bar afterwards and said, ‘It was like watching Madonna,'” Huck said. “No candidate I’ve ever seen unite both local leaders and ordinary people like Graham.”
Instead of dictating how Platner should be evaluated, national organizations should listen to LGBTQ+ people who are active and organizing in Maine, Huck said. “He got the job done,” they said. “He has the support of the Maine community. They are showing their strength.”
Platner said he welcomes further input and support from LGBTQ+ organizations, but stressed that his relationships with allies in Maine will guide his campaign. “Input from the people of Maine and the organizations doing this work in our state is of paramount importance to me,” he said.
Platner said Maine’s LGBTQ+ community faces unique challenges in the state and will continue to build relationships with local advocates.
“At the end of the day, Maine is unique, our communities are unique, our population is unique, and the difficulties, challenges and things that Maine people face can be specific,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky because we already have very close relationships in this world, and we look forward to building even more relationships in the future.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
