Maine Gov. Mills responds to ad alleging policies are linked to sexually explicit books in schools

Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, is under fire with a conservative political action committee that announced a $600,000 TV ad buy last month alleging her policies are behind hyper-sexual content taught in classrooms across the state.

"While Maine’s students’ scores plummet, Janet Mills distributes books like ‘Gender Queer’ that are so pornographic this station cannot show you what’s inside," the ad, which some Maine TV stations have refused to run because of the content, said. 

A barrage of blurred images from the Maia Kobabe book show snippets of its contents that include sex acts. 

"'Gender Queer' is a graphic, explicit how-to manual on gay sex," the ad continued. 

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Maine Families First PAC lambasted the book that has stirred up controversy in other parts of the U.S. for containing sexually explicit images and descriptions while discussing issues from the perspective of someone struggling with gender or sexual identity concerns.

"Look, we have parents' rights in Maine," Mills said at a recent gubernatorial debate against Republican Paul LePage when asked about the ad. "Many of my friends are parents. I'm a parent. Parents serve on our school boards. And it's important that they be heard. And they are heard."

"I don't mandate any particular books," she said. "But what the schools are teaching is math, history, writing, science, basics. That's what we're doing in Maine's schools. And I respect the school administrators and teachers who have taken the brunt of these kinds of accusations...I want them to be able to teach what they feel is appropriate in the classroom, what local school boards feel is appropriate."

According to Steve Robinson, editor-in-chief of The Maine Wire, Mills has received similar criticism for education-related issues in the past.

"In September 2021, Mills’ Department of Education used federal pandemic funds to produce and distribute the Maine Online Opportunities for Sustained Education (MOOSE) program," Robinson wrote on Oct. 24.

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"As part of that program, one lesson on gender included a public school teacher asserting left-wing theories about gender as fact. Children as young as five were told that doctors sometimes make ‘mistakes’ when they acknowledge a baby’s biological sex."

Robinson added that Mills' administration removed the controversial education content from the state's website after the development sparked public outrage.

Discussions surrounding "Gender Queer" and other books have emerged outside the Pine Tree State, with Republican governors and candidates taking lead on the issue ahead of Tuesday's midterms.

In January, Kobabe's allegedly pornographic book was pulled from libraries in Virginia's Loudoun County Public Schools. 

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Parents outraged by the issue in Virginia rallied around Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) who vowed to restore parental rights and transparency to classrooms across the state and other candidates have capitalized on the issue as well.

Meanwhile, Kobabe maintains that her book is beneficial and its criticisms are inflated since it portrays events that are a part of life. The book won an Alex Award from the American Library Association in 2020. 

"If you read my book, you will discover that it is unbelievably tame," Kobabe told TIME Magazine in August. 

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"It does touch on masturbation, sex toys, and sexual health," Kobabe said. "There is a pap smear exam in the book, which is rarely mentioned in the scenes people are concerned about, but in my opinion is probably the most intense scene of the book." 

Fox News' Tyler O'Neil contributed to this report