Maine's AG Goes Too Far

This video clip featuring sadness and pain demonstrates a controversial application of Functionalist Theory in Maine schools. The longer 6-minute version is designed to maximize the opportunity for the acceptance of gender identity among young children. Functionalist Theory posits that emotions, such as love, fear, and guilt, serve specific social and adaptive purposes by influencing behavior. Some parents believe the use of this theory on young children by an authority figure such as an Attorney General is akin to grooming children. Gender identity, which is not gender transition, is a controversial new law. Many states treat it as a topic best left to parents. Source: Website, Office of the Maine Attorney General, 9/19/2025.

The Dangers of Maine’s Attorney General Utilizing Functionalist Theory to Influence Young Children

The Maine AG’s Office has promoted a video to schools that is designed to indoctrinate children to accept the controversial and disputed civil right of gender identity

Author: State Senator James D. Libby, Ph.D., Candidate for Governor

As a candidate for Governor of the State of Maine, I feel compelled to take a strong position against the recent video that is currently promoted to schools as a way to develop civil rights teams. My specific discomfort centers on the application of the Functionalist Theory of Emotion on young children in order to normalize the unsettled question of gender identity. In fact, it is fair to say that we may have just witnessed grooming by the Attorney General’s Office through the application of the Functionalist Theory of Emotion.

The Functionalist Theory of Emotion views emotions as tools that help people adapt to their environment, achieve goals, and build social relationships. Applied to children, the theory suggests that emotions like sadness or fear can motivate learning, cooperation, or rule-following. In the Attorney General’s video, the opening specifically shows children in sad states because some around them have not accepted others’ individual uniqueness. The scene is followed by the claim that experiencing related bigotry and hatred is similar to experiencing many paper cuts. In the background, you can hear the sound of cutting noises as if you were watching movie about a medieval sword battle.

When educators or policymakers in Maine use a functionalist approach in the context of gender identity laws, they are attempting to normalize the current legal definition in Title 5, subsection 4553 – “’Gender identity’ means the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual regardless of the individual’s assigned sex at birth.”  To many Mainer citizens, this definition goes far beyond a gender transition.  It is troubling to many that state law says it is okay to pretend to be a girl when you are really a boy.  This isn’t about surgery for physical reasons. It’s about the degradation of society. Promoting gender identity as a protected class is a perfect example of how the political left has lost its way.

Lessons that highlight the sadness or pain someone feels when excluded or discriminated against helps children connect those emotions to the value of inclusive laws.  The problem here is that gender identity is a new law that is extremely divisive.

Linking pride to fairness and guilt to exclusion encourages children to internalize acceptance of rules or laws as emotionally meaningful, not just imposed.

Children are highly responsive to peer and teacher emotional cues. If acceptance is consistently tied to emotional reinforcement, kids are more likely to adopt those norms. The left knows this, and often at the end of a political cycle, they double-down on strategies such as using Functionalist Theory to have their way with children.  It’s about an agenda.

Beware of those who would blur the lines between education and persuasion. Whether it is intentional or not, therein lies the evil leading to the outcome. Many policymakers agree that using emotions to influence children’s views on contested legal or moral issues could be seen as indoctrination or grooming rather than neutral education.  Parents who hold certain beliefs feel their authority is undermined if schools use emotional frameworks to shape children’s acceptance of laws they oppose.

Emotions can also bypass critical reasoning. Children may learn to conform emotionally without fully understanding the legal or civic framework behind the issue. Scientists note that children’s brains are developing.

When schools apply this approach explicitly, it clashes with parental consent laws and parental rights movements, especially in states like Maine where Republican legislators have proposed bills requiring parental permission for emotional/behavioral instruction.

The practice might also raise First Amendment challenges (claims of compelled speech or viewpoint discrimination) if parents argue that schools were using emotional influence to push acceptance of a contested policy.

Supporters argue that this practice is consistent with schools’ missions to reduce bullying, teach respect, and prepare children for civic life in a pluralistic democracy. The problem here that the left is constantly hitching their indoctrination wagon to something that may otherwise be good.

In summary, when Functionalist Theory is used to influence children to accept gender identity laws, the sought-after outcome is stronger emotional alignment with inclusion and fairness, increasing acceptance among students. The trouble here is that in issues that are socially controversial, some feel that indoctrination has trumped both parental rights and ideological neutrality in education. Videos utilizing Functionalist Theory are considered grooming by many and should not be practiced by our Attorney General nor the Maine Department of Education. Our Attorney General should consider immediately discontinuing its use as it pertains to gender identity.

For more information on family concerns, see Othot, S., AG’s Office “Recruitment Video” Shown in Maine Schools Promotes DEI, Gender Ideology Discussions for Children in Elementary School and Up.