The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights ruled Monday that Maine’s education authorities and a local high school violated federal law by forcing female athletes to compete against a male athlete who identifies as a female.
The ruling is the latest escalation a nationwide debate over transgender ideology, as well as fairness and safety in athletics.
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The debate has put Maine at the center of a media firestorm that began with Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) posting an image of the male athlete accepting his first place trophy against female competitors and culminated with an in-person clash between Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), who continues to support and defend the policy, and President Donald Trump.
The HHS decision targets the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School in Cumberland, marking a significant enforcement action under Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in education. The HHS office, known as OCR, concluded a compliance review launched in February, finding that the state’s policies undermined protections for female athletes.
The Mills Administration’s refusal to abide by federal law has led to multiple investigations into state agencies and taxpayer-funded entities and placed vast amounts of federal funding at risk of withdrawal.
A New York Times / Ipsos poll released in January found that, nationally, just 21 percent of adults support policies like Maine’s that force female athletes to compete against males.
Yet Mills and her Democratic allies in the legislature seem intent on doubling-down on the illegal and unpopular policy, with House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) spearheading an effort to censure Rep. Libby for posting the image of the male athlete to social media and sparking the controversy.
Under rules imposed by Speaker Fecteau and the Democratic majority in the House, Libby remains deprived of her right to vote and speak on the floor of the House of Representatives, an unprecedented action that has led the Auburn Republican to file a federal lawsuit.
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OCR’s determination, detailed in a letter to the three entities, gives them 10 days to sign an agreement pledging to reverse the policies or face referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for potential legal action. The ruling aligns with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14201, signed earlier this year, which mandates that federal agencies withhold funding from education programs failing to bar males from women’s sports.
“Maine cannot sidestep its Title IX obligations by outsourcing extracurricular decisions,” said Anthony Archeval, acting director of OCR, in a statement. “We urge these entities to restore fairness in women’s sports through an agreement with us.”
The investigation began Feb. 21 with a focus on the Maine DOE, a state agency long regarded as replete with progressive and hyper-partisan Democratic activists. But the probe expanded on March 5 to include the principals’ association—a private non-profit that regulates interscholastic athletics in Maine—and Greely High School.
The issue at hand is Maine’s policy, rooted in transgender ideological beliefs about human nature and sexuality, that forces female athletes to compete against males who say they are transgender. The premise of the policy is that a male athlete’s self-identification as a female must be affirmed and embraced by competitors who are actual female, despite the obvious biological disadvantages a female athlete would have compared to a male who simply claims to be a woman.
Maine House Republicans seized on the ruling, renewing calls for the Mills’ administration to reverse course.
“Title IX exists to protect girls’ opportunities, not diminish them,” said House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-winter Harbor). “It’s scientific fact that males have physical advantages. This is discrimination, plain and simple.”
The OCR’s move is part of a broader Trump administration push to “restore biological truth” in federal policy, as HHS described it, reflecting a priority to safeguard women’s sports categories. The executive order, titled “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” cites safety, fairness, and dignity as guiding principles, directing agencies to review grants and rescind funding from noncompliant programs.
Maine officials have yet to respond officially to the OCR’s findings, though Mills has previously vowed to fight the Trump administration’s policies in court. The Mills administration has previously defended “inclusive” sports policies as consistent with state anti-discrimination laws.
In her sparse public comments on the matter, Mills has espoused the belief that the Maine Human Right’s Act is somehow superior to federal civil rights law.
For Greely High School, the ruling adds pressure to a local controversy that drew national attention.
The stakes are high: noncompliance could jeopardize federal education funding, a lifeline for Maine’s public schools. Nationally, the decision signals a tougher stance on Title IX enforcement, with implications for states and districts navigating transgender participation in sports.
Politically, Maine is facing what could be a seminal election in 2026, with an open gubernatorial race and a competitive race for Maine’s Second Congressional District.
The issue has already created a conundrum for U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-CD2), who voted in favor of allowing males to compete against females but has more recently said he opposes the policy at the state level.
