Politics
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President Donald Trump has targeted Maine for months over its transgender athlete policies, and another milestone in the fight came over the past two weeks when state lawmakers defeated several proposals to ban transgender girls from female sports and roll back other protections.
But Trump’s battle with Maine and Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who had a testy back-and-forth with the Republican president at a White House event in February before Trump started axing or pausing federal dollars and programs benefiting Maine and its universities, is hardly over.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education that seeks to force the state to ban transgender girls from competing in sports aligned with their gender identity may last until at least next year, absent a sudden settlement or change in schedule.
And coinciding with the showdown in federal court are more revelations regarding Trump’s efforts to punish Maine for not going along with his executive order — which is not a law — that seeks to ban transgender female athletes from female sports. New records obtained by the Bangor Daily News indicate the Trump administration paused federal funds for the University of Maine’s prestigious engineering and offshore wind research lab — a move that led to layoffs this month for nine employees — because of the transgender athlete dispute.
That move came despite the federal government already clearing the university earlier this year of any violations of Title IX, the landmark anti-sex discrimination statute that Trump is seeking to reinterpret in his case against Maine by arguing it bans transgender girls in female sports.
It further illuminates the retaliatory nature of Trump’s moves against Maine, which swept up programs unrelated to sports in the fight over transgender athletes. Those on both sides of the issue acknowledge the federal government’s dispute with the state will continue after the Democratic-controlled Legislature defeated several Republican bills on transgender policies.
Mills said earlier this year in response to the Justice Department’s lawsuit that the matter “has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed.”
“It is about states rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law,” Mills said.
The Maine Principals’ Association said two transgender girls competed this past school year out of the more than 40,000 high school athletes in the state. Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, singled out one of them for winning a state track and field title in a viral social media post that made its way to Trump before he called out Mills during a February event with other governors.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit claims the Maine Department of Education is “openly and defiantly flouting federal anti-discrimination law” by allowing transgender girls in female sports. At the request of the Justice Department, a federal judge agreed this month to push the trial date in the case from December 2025 to April 2026, with both sides given until Dec. 19 to submit evidence in the discovery process.
Rep. Dick Campbell, R-Orrington, proposed the bill to block state funding for schools and universities that allow transgender female athletes in female sports that cleared the House thanks to support from a few Democrats before falling in the Senate. Campbell said he did not want his efforts to get caught up in the “personalities” of Trump and Mills.
He was also hoping the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee would have used his measure to seek a potential compromise, such as a new division for transgender students in Maine sports. Campbell said he will file another bill to keep the conversation going in future sessions.
“It comes down to two points: safety and fairness,” Campbell said.
Libby pointed to polling from earlier this year showing a majority of Mainers want transgender female athletes banned from female sports. She said the Legislature “refused to listen to the will of the people” with its recent votes.
Maine and its courts have protected transgender rights for years, noted Mary Bonauto, senior director of civil rights and legal strategies for GLAD Law, a pro-LGBTQ+ rights firm. She added the Legislature’s recent votes at the tail end of this year’s session “underscored our longtime commitment to ensuring every child has a fair shot at learning the important lessons taught by sports, such as perseverance, self-assurance, dedication and teamwork.”
“We know that blanket bans targeting transgender young people are bad for everyone, and just as these bans were defeated at the national level as well, the law in Maine and nationally remains what it was and has been — nothing has changed,” Bonauto said.
The White House criticized the Democratic-controlled Legislature for defeating the slate of proposals tied to sports, public accommodations, names and gender identity protections in the Maine Human Rights Act. Twenty-one other states allow transgender students to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity, with California and Minnesota also drawing Trump’s ire.
“This is another shameful betrayal by Maine Democrats who are attacking fundamental fairness, endangering women and girls and robbing female athletes of opportunities to push a radical gender ideology that denies biological reality,” Assistant White House Press Secretary Liz Huston said Friday.
Between 2013 and 2021, when lawmakers further clarified gender identity protections in education, the Maine Principals’ Association, which governs scholastic sports in the state, generally allowed transgender students to participate in sports aligned with their gender identity unless an MPA committee determined it would result in an unfair advantage or safety risk for other competitors.
It heard from 56 transgender students wishing to participate, only four of whom were trans girls. Jared Bornstein, a lobbyist representing the association, said it “will continue to follow the law as laid out by the Legislature.”
“We are monitoring the litigation regarding this issue,” Bornstein said, “and if changes are mandated by the courts or Congress in the future, we will make whatever changes are required of us.”