Sports
Maine House speaker deletes X account after censuring lawmaker opposed to transgender athletes in girls sports
Ryan Fecteau, the Maine House of Representatives’ Democratic speaker, deleted his X account early Thursday morning, just days after censuring Republican Rep. Laurel Libby.
Libby was censured by the Democratic majority Tuesday evening for a recent social media post pointing out that a transgender high school athlete won a girls competition. The censure resolution passed by a 75-70 vote and revoked Libby’s speaking and voting privileges.
Fecteau said during a hearing that Libby’s rights would not be restored until she apologized, but she told him that night she would not be apologizing.
Libby pointed out that Fecteau’s account had been deactivated in an X post Thursday.
“Apparently Maine’s Speaker of the House didn’t like hearing the voices of the people. … State House Speaker Ryan Fecteau has deleted his X account less than 48 hours after the Democrat Majority’s attempt to cancel me,” Libby wrote with a screenshot of his deleted account page.
Fox News Digital reached out to Fecteau for comment.
Ryan Fecteau greets voters at Biddeford High School while campaigning for a seat in House District 11 Nov. 4, 2014. (Jill Brady/Staff Photographer)
Fecteau left his Facebook and Bluesky accounts active but has not addressed the situation with Libby or the deactivation of his account. Many of his posts on those platforms have been flooded with comments from those criticizing his decision to censure Libby.
“You’re a coward. A spineless, feckless, coward who obviously hates young girls,” one user commented on Fecteau’s latest Facebook post.
“While screeching that Trump and Republicans are Nazis and want a dictatorship, you silence a Representative for voicing her constituent’s valid concerns. Highlighting the usual hypocrisy of Democrats,” another Facebook user commented.
Fecteau has served in his role as Maine speaker of the House since 2020. At the time of his election as speaker in December 2020, Fecteau was the youngest active state speaker in the U.S. at the age of 28 and the first openly gay person to serve as speaker of the Maine House.
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On Tuesday, Fecteau passed Libby’s censure based on the premise her social media post about the transgender athlete identified a minor with a photo and included the athlete’s name.
Libby’s post identifying the trans athlete came last Sunday when she pointed out that a transgender track and field athlete had taken first place at a Maine girls pole vault competition after competing as a boy just one year earlier.
“It’s a remarkable double standard as there are public photos of this individual in many places on social media and even some posted by his school, and, so, yes, this post went viral, but this was an individual who participated in a public event, who publicly stood on a podium and accepted a championship medal that rightfully belonged to the girls standing on the second-place spot,” Libby told Fox News Digital.
During Tuesday’s vote, Libby also approached the House floor with a prepared seven-page speech on the importance of protecting girls and women’s sports from transgender inclusion. However, throughout the night, her microphone was consistently turned off when she was trying to deliver that speech.
“I was completely unable, from my first sentence, to get a word out, before the other side was shutting me down,” Libby said, adding she had never seen anything like that happen during her tenure in the Maine legislature.
Libby’s revelation of the transgender athlete ignited national conversation and coverage of the state’s policy on trans inclusion after Maine announced it would not comply with President Donald Trump’s recent “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.
Trump then vowed to cut funding to the state for refusing to follow his order during a gathering last week of governors at the White House.
On Friday, Mills’ office responded with a statement threatening legal action against the Trump administration if it did withhold federal funding from the state. Then, Trump and Mills verbally sparred at the White House during a bipartisan meeting of governors.
Just hours after that interaction, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would be investigating the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports and potential Title IX violations.
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The Sparks are finally in the win column, but the outcome was in doubt late Friday night.
Behind double-digit scoring from all five starters, the Sparks had by far their best offensive showing of the season, shooting 63.8% during a 99-95 win over the expansion Toronto Tempo.
The Tempo didn’t make things easy, cutting the deficit to two points late and later trailing by just three with 31 seconds remaining and possession of the ball. Marina Mabrey missed a three-point attempt before late Tempo fouls gave the Sparks enough of a cushion to win.
Kelsey Plum nearly claimed a double-double with 27 points and nine assists, while Dearica Hamby had 19 points with seven rebounds and Nneka Ogwumike scored 20 points.
Erica Wheeler, who started in place of Ariel Atkins (concussion), scored 10 points with seven assists and was a plus-16 as the primary ball handler after starting the season two for 16 from the field. That freed up Plum to be in position to score, setting up a much more efficient Sparks offense.
Toronto was shorthanded in the frontcourt without starting center Temi Fagbenle (right shoulder), and the Sparks trio of bigs had a field day with 54 points in the paint.
The Sparks came out firing on Friday, opening with a 17-2 run.
The Tempo went on a 10-0 burst heading into the second quarter but the Sparks countered to maintain momentum and led 46-38 at halftime.
A Wheeler three-pointer early in the third quarter gave the Sparks a 20-point lead. The Tempo cut it to three midway through the fourth while Brittany Sykes (27 points, seven assists) sparked Toronto’s rally. The Tempo put up more shots than the Sparks, 70-58, largely because of a 10-2 offensive-rebounding gap.
Cameron Brink’s 10 points were the only ones provided by the Sparks’ bench, while the Tempo got 42 points from reserves.
Toronto was coming off its first win in franchise history on Wednesday when it defeated Seattle but struggled against a more complete offensive team in the Sparks.
In her return to Los Angeles after winning a national championship with UCLA this spring, Tempo rookie Kiki Rice netted 11 points.
Kate Martin made her Sparks debut as a developmental player with Atkins and Sania Feagin (lower left leg) unavailable and picked up one rebound in six minutes.
The Sparks will face Toronto again on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
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The WNBA season has been in session for about a week, so it is far too early to make assumptions about teams. That doesn’t mean we won’t make them; it’s just too early to really believe it. I lost my first WNBA bet this season, so I’m hoping to avenge that loss here as the Sky take on the Mercury.
The Chicago Sky are one of the most poorly run franchises in basketball. They have had some great names on their team and only one championship to show for it.
Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner shoots over Indiana Fever guard Aerial Powers in the first half at PHX Arena. (Rick Scuteri/Imagn Images)
There really isn’t a clear indication of what is wrong with the franchise, but they’ve never been able to retain their talent. Aside from Kamilla Cardoso, I can’t name a player on this team that they’ve actually drafted. They just seem to get good players and then show them the door.
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Even though they’ve had questionable front office decisions, they seem to have put together a solid team for this season – something I didn’t expect before the season started.
They are 2-0, which is too early to really say they are a good team. I also want to reserve judgment until they face a team with a longer history than last year. The Portland Tempo played their first-ever game against the Sky, and Golden State was good last year, but still is in just their second season of existence.
The Phoenix Mercury are actually considered one of the best franchises in the league. I’m sure there are issues that people have reported, but for the most part, they have good facilities, and people want to play for their team. They made it all the way to the WNBA Finals last season before falling to the Las Vegas Aces. This year, they are looking to restart that journey and see if they can win the last game of the year.
Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper dribbles the ball in the second half at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 2025. (Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images)
It will need to come with some better play than they’ve shown through three games this year. They are just 1-2 for the year with a 0-1 home record. The lone win was a blowout victory over the Aces (a clear revenge game if we’ve ever seen one). Then they lost the next two games against Golden State and Minnesota. Losing to the Lynx wouldn’t be a problem, but they didn’t have Napheesa Collier, who still has an ankle injury.
I expect the Mercury to make some adjustments for this game. They haven’t looked very crisp to begin the year, but they’ve been strong on offense, averaging 87 points per game.
The Sky are going to keep relying on their offense to do just enough and their defense to lock in. The Sky do have an edge on the interior, so they can get buckets fairly easily down low. I like the over 166.5 in this game.
Chicago Sky guard Skylar Diggins chases the ball during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on May 13, 2026. (Bob Kupbens/Imagn Images)
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I also think it is worth betting on Kahleah Copper to go over her point total. Copper had two rough games before she broke out in the last game. Now she has the same sight lines and can attack the bigs from the Sky with her athleticism. Since going to Phoenix, she has scored 29, 7, 16, 25 and 28 points in five games against them.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
Tom Harp has been coaching volleyball at Granada Hills High for so long that few remember he won a City Section championship as a co-head football coach with Darryl Stroh in 1987.
In the 1990s, he turned exclusively to coaching boys’ and girls’ volleyball, winning a combined 15 City titles and making 28 finals appearances. The top-seeded Highlanders will try to deliver a seventh Open Division championship on Saturday when they face West Valley League rival Chatsworth in a 4 p.m. final at Birmingham.
The league rivals split their two West Valley matches, with each going five games. Chatsworth knocked off 17-time champion Palisades in the semifinals. MIT-bound Grant Chang is Chatsworth’s 6-foot-6 powerful outside hitter.
All-City volleyball player RJ Francisco of Granada Hills shows off his hitting skills against Chatsworth.
(Craig Weston)
Granada Hills has RJ Francisco, who had 19 kills in a win over Chatsworth.
The Southern Section Division 1 final is Friday night, with Mira Costa taking on Loyola in a 7:30 p.m. match at Cerritos College.
Regional and state playoffs begin next week.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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