The Department of Education has referred Maine to the Department of Justice after the state refused to end the participation of boys identifying as transgender in girls’ sports, federal officials announced April 11, the deadline to comply.
The Department of Education will also start administrative proceedings to determine the withholding of federal education funding from schools in the Pine Tree State.
“The Department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy, and dignity,” Trainor’s statement said.
“The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department.”
“Gov. Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom—be careful what you wish for. Now she will see the Trump administration in court,” Trainor’s statement said.
The Epoch Times contacted Mills, the Maine Department of Education, and the Maine Principals’ Association, which oversees scholastic sports. None responded.
Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a April 11 letter to the Trump administration that he is not considering the conditions noted in the Department of Education’s correspondence with his state’s education officials.
“We will not sign the resolution agreement, and we do not have revisions to counter-propose. We agree that we are at an impasse,” he wrote.
“Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibit schools from allowing transgender girls to participate on girls and women’s sports teams. Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds.”
The dates or locations for the planned court and administrative proceedings were not disclosed.
Current Maine laws allow boys identifying as transgender to compete on girls’ teams, and local school officials maintain they will follow those laws until a state agency directs them otherwise.
Trump’s executive order prohibiting males from competing on women’s teams at any scholastic level noted that offenders risk losing federal funding. The National Collegiate Athletic Association immediately complied by updating its guidelines.
A transgender-identifying boy on the Greely High School team won the state pole vaulting title in February, a year after finishing in 10th place in the boys’ competition. That win also provided just enough points for Greely to win the team title.
Neither school has listed spring rosters on their websites yet, so it’s unclear if either athlete is participating on a team for the current season.
State legislators previously sanctioned Libby for posting the Greely student’s identity on her Facebook page.
On April 11, the lawmaker posted that Maine schools stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars and “fairness for girls.”
