Trump administration says Maine's transgender athlete policies violate Title IX

The Trump administration says Maine’s education department violated federal law by allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ and women’s sports. 

The Department of Health and Human Services's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) notified Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and state Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) in a letter dated Feb. 25 that it had issued a “notice of violation” against the state’s education department for failing to comply with Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination at schools and education programs that receive government funding. 

The notice, first reported by the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday, found that Maine’s education department violated Title IX by denying girls in the state an equal opportunity to compete in school sports “by allowing male athletes to compete against female athletes in current and future athletic events.” 

“Male athletes, by comparison, are not subject to heightened safety or competitive concerns, which only affect females. This lack of equal opportunity and fair competition constitutes a Title IX violation,” wrote acting OCR Director Anthony F. Archeval. 

A spokesperson for the OCR did not immediately return a request for comment. 

The Maine Principals Association, which governs high school sports in the state, said last month it would not bar transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity, as an executive order signed Feb. 5 by President Trump had directed. Mike Burnham, the organization’s executive director, said the order conflicts with a state anti-discrimination law that includes protections for transgender people. 

The OCR, in its letter to Mills and Frey, said Maine’s education department had failed to ensure that public schools, which follow the policies set by the Principals Association, comply with federal nondiscrimination law. 

The agency’s finding came just four days after the federal Department of Education opened an investigation into Maine’s education department and a school district that allowed a transgender high school student to compete on its girls’ track and field team. 

State Rep. Laurel Libby (R) had posted a photo of the student, as well as the student’s name and deadname — the name they used before transitioning — on her Facebook page, attracting national media attention and driving the school to increase its policy and security presence. Libby’s Democratic colleagues voted late last month to censure her over the post. 

A spokesperson for Mills, who clashed with Trump over the state’s defiance of his executive order at a National Governor’s Association event in Washington last month, said neither the governor’s office nor the state education department were contacted directly by HHS during its investigation. 

“I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined,” Mill’s said in a statement at the start of the investigation. “Maine may be one of the first states to undergo an investigation by his Administration, but we won’t be the last.” 

The Education Department has launched at least eight investigations into states, school districts and athletic associations since Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes. In letters to state officials last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi promised swift legal action against entities that refuse to enforce the order's restrictions.

—Updated at 3:45 p.m. EST