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.
[RELATED: Mainers Rally at Capitol in Support of Girls Sports…]
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.
[RELATED: Boston Globe Wrecks Democrat Men of Maine for Giving Libby the Handmaid’s Tale Treatment…]
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.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="36821 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=36821">17 Comments
Everyone in this state agrees that mentally ill males do not belong in women’s sports! Stop with halfwits and idiots in Augusta trying to defend this lunacy! People are sick of hearing about trans genders, whatever that is. C’mon man!
The LGBT groups said for the longest time that sex and gender were two different things. However they claimed Title 9 says allows trans men to play against woman.. However T9 says nothing about gender and only states sex…. So I always ask them “are they lying about sex and gender?” and they never respond other than insults.
Some post how many trans there are in Maine High School sports.
I think Janet Mills and Greely High School should FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Don’t let federal law get in your way. Who cares if Greely, and most schools in Maine lose federal money. They don’t need it. Just tax, TAX, TAX, TAX the residents who live in those towns, and keep letting the boys play against the girls. Solution: Get rid of girls and boys divisions and everything will be equal and diverse.
Of course the Libtards will spin this as it only hurts the children in the end! They’re just trying to be totally inclusive for the 0.00001 % at the expense of the masses!
I am so sick and tired of the word “ Trans “ . THERE IS NO “ Trans “ .
There are men and there are women. Period .
Women can never be made into men , and men can never be made into women .
It’s just another word-smithing game played by the lunatic democrats .
Democrats WILL BE defeated in 2026 and Maine will be allowed to return to some common sense and decency .
May this be the hill that Mills decides to die on for her cause then we can FINALLY be done with the ridiculous antics of the insane democrats that have destroyed this once great state. Boys masquerading as girls who have mental illness brought on by virtue signaling left wing lunatic parents need to be taken out of the home and sequestered until they regain some semblance of who they really are.
Transgenders are mentally ill, and those who insist that they are acceptable are also mentally ill. It is time to get the mentally ill out of running our government!
I don’t care how many laws are passed, it will never be right for men to participate in women’s sports. Period,
Mills has been “inviting” all these weirdos into the state for quite some time now.. along with the abortion agenda… hey, Maine has abortion, come on in, bring all your pregnant teenagers (across state lines)…oh yeah, and what about the Green new scam… windmills that fall apart (and need oil to work) , obsolete solar panels with no place to dispose of them…and… they look so lovely in Maines scenic views…what else can she conjure up? It seems like someone is trying to ruin Maine, kinda like Newscum did in Cali…homeless addicts, tents and crap on the streets. Lovely in Portland. It’s ALL connected…every bit of it done on purpose.
This fundamentally is about TWO kids in Maine. That’s it. It’s an issue being used to gin up people ….SO WE DON’T NOTICE THAT MEDICAID IS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK….WHICH 40% OF THE PEOPLE IN MAINE DEPEND ON FOR HEALTH INSURANCE. And when it goes, hello? Our hospitals start going down, but whatever right? We have to concentrate all our attention on this issue of trans kids, and have no time for the kids, the elderly, disabled AND OURSELVES IF WE GET ILL OR INJURED. When are you guys gonna wake Up? When your underwear is gone????
Trans = Mental Illness
No men or male trans cos-players in women’s sports. Period.
It is scientifically impossible to change your gender.
These “medical procedures” are nothing more than Frankenstein quackery.
Should be completely banned “procedures” because they serve no valid medical purpose.
& new study shows the suicide rate has doubled for people who’ve undergone this butchery.
This is fact, not up to a judge to determine in any way shape or form!
It would be interesting to watch if a whole high school boy’s baseball team “suddenly” identified as female and won the state championship in girls softball,…just to make a point.
How many trans athletes are there in Maine high schools? A total of 2. How many untested rape kits are there in Maine – 100s. Get your priorities straight if you are so worried about girls.
Why do the dems think this is right
Maine Democrats are tyrants. Maine’s Democrat-voters remind me of the sheep Orwell references in “Animal Farm,” who are easily bamboozled by ‘Squealer.’ Additionally, there’s too many Mainers from-away who are importing their radical-leftist politics into the State of Maine. Lastly, there’s too many Maine GOP’ers who earnestly believe they can, through good statesmanship, meet Maine’s radical Democrats half-way, i.e., many Maine GOP’ers elected to the state’s legislature are too cowardly to fight for traditional conservative values, in particular, prioritizing state spending on Mainers not illegal immigrants and standing for the civil rights of Maine girls.