U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Friday that she opposes President Donald Trump’s threat to no longer give federal funding to Maine over allowing transgender kids to compete in scholastic sports but added that state officials should rethink their laws on the issue.
The president’s threat that he issued Thursday during a Republican Governors Association meeting in Washington also resulted in Gov. Janet Mills saying Maine “will not be intimidated” and would sue if Trump tries to pull funding. It’s unclear if Trump will follow through on his threat that could also extend to roughly two dozen states with similar anti-discrimination laws.
Collins, the lone Republican in Maine’s congressional delegation and the top Senate appropriator, released a mixed statement that called for transgender students to be treated with “respect and dignity” but also said that the state’s policy threatens to undermine the intent of Title IX, the landmark 1972 law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.
“I oppose the president’s attempt to curtail funding for Maine and will advocate vigorously for our fair share of federal funding for Maine schools,” she said.
Trump signed an executive order earlier in February to bar students assigned male at birth from participating in girls’ and women’s sports and from using women’s restrooms while tasking the Department of Education, which he has also pledged to dismantle, with seeking out violators.
His remarks Thursday indicate he may have gotten word of the Maine Principals’ Association, which runs high school sports, affirming this month it will continue to allow transgender athletes to compete and will not amend its policies in response to Trump’s order.
Lawmakers have added additional anti-discrimination provisions over the years to the Maine Human Rights Act that took effect in 1971. For example, the Democratic-controlled Legislature and Gov. Janet Mills expanded it to cover gender identity in 2021. That law is the basis for the current policy governing high school sports here.
Around 3.5 percent of Maine high school students have reported they are transgender, with no clear data available on how many compete in sports. Between 2013 and 2021, the association heard from 56 transgender students wishing to participate during that time, only four of whom were transgender girls.
The other members of Maine’s congressional delegation also opposed Trump’s threat. U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, called it “straight up unconstitutional and illegal.” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, the 1st District Democrat, echoed that.
“If the president attempts to follow through with this threat, we will fight this in Congress, in the courts and alongside every Mainer who believes in equality under the law,” Pingree said Friday.
While saying it would be wrong to “punish every Maine school over a policy disagreement that applies to a small fraction of students,” U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the Trump-friendly 2nd District who has urged his party to not overreact to every White House move, said he opposes the 2021 law that led to the current Maine Principals’ Association policy on transgender athletes.
“While we in Congress wrestle over the role of the federal government versus the states in education, state political and education leaders have the authority to resolve this issue, and they should,” Golden said.
Maine schools received about 10 percent of their funding from the federal government during the 2021-22 academic year, averaging out to $2,100 per student. Low-income districts would feel any loss of federal funding the hardest. The Washington County town of Wesley topped the state in receiving about a third of its education funding from the federal government, per recent federal data. Among Maine’s largest districts, Sanford had the biggest share at 13.7 percent.
The NCAA responded to Trump’s executive order by updating its policies to restrict women’s sports to students assigned female at birth while keeping men’s sports open to all students, regardless of their assigned sex at birth. Courts have blocked transgender-related bans similar to Trump’s order in states such as Arizona, West Virginia and New Hampshire, but 27 states currently ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identities, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
Two New Hampshire high school students are also challenging Trump’s transgender athlete order in federal court.