Joel Littlefield

Senator Baily, Representative Perry and Members of the Committee on Health Coverage and Financial Services

My name is Joel Littlefield. I live in Wiscasset. I’m a father of 4, a husband, and pastor, and I stand in opposition to LD227. To answer the question you directed toward the gentlemen who spoke before me, the answer is YES! This bill will absolutely affect religious freedom in Maine. As a pastor, it is my job to provide loving and truthful counsel to the families in our church, including children and teens. I take this very seriously, and have a greater authority, which is God, whose truth I am accountable to. Please hear me. I am not afraid, and I will continue to speak the truth of God because I know it is right. But there is no language in this bill that would protect pastors in our state from arrest or imprisonment when counsel is given to a family, teen, or young boy or girl who is dealing with gender dysphoria.

Why are you entertaining this bill as though it contains truth, when both God and science prove it to be sinful, and disastrous to both soul and society?  

It’s no wonder that many of our youth are confused about who they are when there’s not a single government-school in our state teaching children to seek the God of Scripture. That is where their value comes from…just the way they are…male and female, boy or girl, made in the image of God. The writers of our constitution read their bibles for the wisdom needed to build our free land. Will you open yours later to see that there is nothing there that sides with this bill?

As a father, I know that kids need time to develop, especially when making decisions that will affect their long-term future. My boys had a new idea every week about what they wanted to be when they grew up. My daughters struggled to pick out clothes for each day. Those are low pressure decisions! Would you suggest altering the course of their life forever based on ever-changing emotions? The part of the brain that does this efficiently won’t finish developing well into their adult years. That is not how you raise children.   

Dr Joseph Campellone, a Neurologist from the University of Rochester explains, “adults think with the prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. However, teens process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part. That’s why when teens have overwhelming emotional input, they can’t explain later what they were thinking. They weren’t thinking as much as they were feeling.”

“In addition to prioritizing feelings over facts, brain imaging studies have also shown us that teenagers assess risk in different ways from both younger children and adults (5). Many of the choices teenagers make carry consequences that unfold over the course of their adult lives. The ability to accurately ‘value’ an outcome in the future, attached to a decision taken today requires a complex network to develop within the brain (cortiostriatal connectivity), a process that isn’t complete until adulthood. Whilst these connections are being established, teenagers are not good at judging the ‘value’ of likely outcomes in the future, particularly if they are far in the future and outside their experience to date.” (Dr Sallie Baxendale is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist with 29 years of experience working as a clinician in the NHS.)

Behind closed doors, every transgender adult is miserable, broken, regretful, and without peace. That’s the untold story. It’s a façade. What children need in that moment of confusion, when they’re running into danger, is for a loving mother, father, or grandparent to utter that blessed two letter word…“NO”, and walk with them in unconditional love and truth.

This bill denies parents this precious right.  

Ladies and gentlemen, you are not children, which means your prefrontal cortex is fully formed and you can discern the consequences. Mark my words, and the words of many others who will testify today. A yes vote on this bill will ruin generation. Be on the righteous side of history…stand up for your future generations. Kill this bill and begin drafting bills that save children and promote family. Turn from this plan of destruction, and seek the Lord, Jesus Christ, who’s kindness and patience lends you the very breath in your lungs.

I strongly oppose LD227, and so should you.

Thank you for your time.