The U.S. attorney general is threatening to sue Maine for allowing transgender athletes to compete in scholastic sports.
Maine is one of three states that the Trump administration is targeting over inclusive transgender policies. Similar letters were sent to California and Minnesota, Politico reported.
In the letter dated Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi asserted that Maine is violating Title IX, the 1972 law barring sex-based discrimination in schools, by requiring girls to compete against transgender athletes.
The Maine Principals’ Association, which runs high school sports, affirmed this month it will continue to allow trans athletes to compete in accordance with the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
That continues the association’s longstanding policy of inclusion, which allowed trans athletes to play in sports consistent with their gender identity, unless there was a safety risk. Between 2013 and 2021, the association heard from 56 students wishing to participate during that time, only four of whom were trans girls.
Despite the state’s policy, Bondi asserted that federal law prevails over Maine’s.
“Where federal and state law conflict, states and state entities must follow federal law — not because we live in a dictatorship but because the Constitution requires states to follow the supreme law of the land,” Bondi wrote in the letter to Gov. Janet Mills.
This comes just days after state Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, thrust Maine into the national spotlight when she took to social media to complain about the state violating an executive order from President Donald Trump that threatens to withhold federal funds if trans girls and women are allowed to compete in girls and women’s sports.
In a post, Libby singled out a trans girl from Greely High School who won a track and field title last week. The lawmaker has defied calls to take down the post, and the Maine House censured her on Tuesday.
MSAD 51 has boosted security around Greely High because of the controversy.
Then, during a speech before the Republican Governors Association on Thursday, Trump asked if anyone in the room was from Maine before attacking the state over the continued inclusion of transgender student-athletes.
“So we’re not going to give them any federal funding — none whatsoever — until they clean that up,” he said, referring to the state’s policy.
The next day, during an event for governors at the White House in Washington, Mills and Trump got into a heated exchange during which he repeated his threat to withhold federal funding from Maine until the state changes its policy.
“We’re going to follow the law, sir. We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied.
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In response, the Trump administration has launched three Title IX investigations into the state, the University of Maine System, the University of Maine and Greely High School.
“If these or other federal investigations show that the relevant Maine entities are indeed denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys, the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law,” Bondi wrote.