The people of Kennebunk watched in stunned disbelief as Leslie Trentalange, the town’s Select Board vice-chair, stood up at the RSU 21 school board meeting on October 20 and accused concerned parents of “pedophilic tendencies” for wanting girls’ sports and private spaces protected by biological sex. Her words were not a slip of the tongue — they were a deliberate, poisonous smear aimed at hardworking moms and dads who simply want fairness and safety for their daughters.
Parents who showed up to that meeting were exercising their civic duty, asking school officials to respect common-sense distinctions that protect female athletes. Instead of answering their concerns, Trentalange chose to insult them, speaking over the school board chair and doubling down on the accusation when criticized. That behavior from an elected official is both cowardly and contemptible.
The fallout was immediate: outraged residents demanded accountability, calling for Trentalange’s resignation or censure while others defended her supposed right to speak as a private citizen. The Select Board chair attempted to distance the board from Trentalange’s remarks even as petitioners argued that elected leaders owe their constituents more than slander. This is what happens when ideology supersedes basic decency in public life.
When pressed, Trentalange offered what the town rightly calls a non-apology — regretting only any offense to the “queer community” and relinquishing her liaison role to the school board rather than owning up to the damage she did to entire families. That half-measure shows the left’s playbook: never admit wrongdoing, only change titles and keep pushing the same toxic rhetoric. Kennebunk voters deserve officials who apologize to real people, not to political slogans.
This controversy didn’t arise in a vacuum. RSU 21 has been wrestling with the same national debate that has parents worried about fairness and safety in sports and privacy in restrooms and locker rooms. Citizens are right to demand policies that protect biological girls without being shouted down and smeared as perverts; that debate should be won with facts and respect, not with venom from those who purport to lead.
Leslie Trentalange holds a public office and the people of Kennebunk have a right to expect better from the vice-chair listed on the town’s own website. When an elected official uses her platform to sling baseless accusations at her neighbors, it corrodes trust in local government and chills civic engagement. Town leaders must either discipline such conduct or risk teaching future officeholders that character assassination is an acceptable form of governance.
Patriotic Americans know what’s at stake: our daughters’ opportunities, parents’ rights, and the very idea that public servants serve the people rather than their preferred political narratives. Kennebunk’s residents should not be intimidated into silence by smear campaigns from self-appointed moral arbiters. It’s time for local leaders to defend decency, defend free speech for parents, and demand an apology that actually addresses the harm done.
