The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against Maine for refusing to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, escalating an ongoing conflict between President Trump and Governor Janet Mills.
“The Department of Justice will not sit by when women are discriminated against in sports,” declared US Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday. “This is also about these young women’s personal safety.”
Governor Mills responded that the issue has “never been about school sports of the protection of women and girls,” accusing the federal government of “imposing its will” on states.
The legal dispute centers on Title IX, a civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs. In February, Trump signed an executive order requiring that Title IX be interpreted to ban transgender women and girls from female sports competitions.
According to the federal government, Maine’s education department is violating this interpretation of the law. During a press conference, Bondi stated the administration wants to strip titles from transgender athletes and is “considering whether to retroactively pull all the funding that they [the education department] have received for not complying in the past.”
This lawsuit follows the administration’s recent attempt to cut all federal funding for Maine’s public schools and school lunch program, apparently in response to a confrontation between Trump and Mills during a governors’ meeting on February 21. At that meeting, Trump threatened to withdraw state funding if Mills refused to comply with the executive order banning transgender women from female sports, to which Mills responded: “We’ll see you in court.”
On Wednesday, Mills accused the federal government of acting unlawfully: “For nearly two months, Maine has endured recriminations from the federal government that have targeted hungry school kids, hardworking fishermen, senior citizens, new parents, and countless Maine people. We have been subject to politically motivated investigations that opened and closed without discussion, leaving little doubt that their outcomes were predetermined.”
Mills has stated that there are only two transgender athletes competing in Maine schools. According to a UCLA Williams Institute study, less than 1% of Americans over 13 years old identify as transgender.
The lawsuit represents another step in Trump’s efforts to reverse transgender policies implemented during the Biden administration. Following Trump’s February executive order on transgender athletes, the NCAA banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
On the same day as the lawsuit announcement, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of woman is based on biological sex, while affirming that transgender people maintain legal protection from discrimination.
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