U.S. Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi, joined by women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines, Maine Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn), Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, and two Maine female athletes who lost opportunities to male students, announced a lawsuit against Maine on Wednesday morning for refusing to bar men from women’s sports.
“We believe they are failing to protect women, and it’s not only an issue in sports, it is a public safety issue. These boys are allowed to go in women’s restrooms, they are allowed to go in the women’s dressing rooms and get fully naked and change, biological boys, and change clothes in front of theses young women,” said AG Bondi.
“Maine’s leadership has refused to comply at every turn, so now we have no other choice, we are taking them to court,” she added.
Bondi’s lawsuit will seek a federal injunction against Maine to compel the state to comply and will seek to have the winning titles returned to the girls who lost in competitions to male athletes.
She also said that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering retroactively pulling all the funding that Maine received while refusing to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.”
The order established the current administration’s interpretation of Title IX anti-discrimination laws that considers it a violation for males to be allowed in women’s sports.
The Maine Wire reached out to Maine AG Aaron Frey, asking him for a comment on the federal lawsuit, but his office did not immediately respond. Later on Wednesday morning, Gov. Mills issued the following statement:
“This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls … it is about states’ rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will.”
What Mills’ response did not take into account is the federal actions have now gone beyond the question of school sports.
During her speech, Bondi also alluded to the DOJ’s action against the Maine Department of Corrections for putting female inmates at risk by allowing violent male offenders to be housed in women’s prisons because the inmates claimed to identify as transgender. So far, it has frozen non-essential funds to Maine prisons.
McMahon joined Bondi in condemning Maine’s refusal to comply with federal law and called out Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) for her now-infamous exchange with President Trump, in which she told the president that she would see him in court rather than comply with federal law.
“We want to make sure that if you open women’s sports or intimate facilities to males you expose yourself to federal rights [sic], federal civil rights investigation, Gov. Mills will definitely get her wish,” said McMahon
Bondi invited Rep. Libby to speak to a national audience about her state’s discriminatory policies, and pointed out that Libby was previously silenced and censured by Democrats in the Maine House for a Facebook post drawing attention to the issue that featured the picture of a transgender-identifying male athlete standing victorious over high school girls at a sporting event.
“Governor Mills and legislative Democrats along with the Maine Principals Association (MPA) continue to persist in discriminating against Maine women and girls. They are out of alignment with two-thirds of Mainers who believe that biological males have no place in girl’s sports,” said Libby.
Libby also praised the Hodgdon school district (MSAD 70), whose board voted unanimously on Monday to adopt the federal government’s interpretation of Title IX, in defiance of state authorities, becoming the first school board in the state to do so.
“Earlier this week, the MSAD [Maine School Administrative District] 70 school board voted unanimously to align with title IX. They are in alignment with two-thirds of my fellow Mainers,” said Libby.
Two Maine high school girls who have been negatively impacted by their state’s decision to allow males into their locker rooms, restrooms, and sports also spoke at the press conference.
“My first experience was when I was 13 years old. I was going to change for gym and I walked into the locker room and there was a biological male there. From that point on, my junior year, I competed in Nordic skiing and lost to a biological male,” said Presque Isle student Cassidy Carlisle.
“Even though my own governor isn’t fighting for me, I know there are people out there fighting for me,” she added.
“I had to watch at the Maine class B state indoor track championship as my close friend and my teammate and other female competitors lost the state championship to a biological male. And this was heartbreaking for me to have to watch,” said Fairfield’s Zoe Hutchins.
“It is the job of our elected officials to protect our young female athletes, and they have failed to do that,” she added.
The DOJ’s lawsuit comes after numerous warnings from both the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), urging Maine to comply with federal law or face a loss of funding and potential legal action.
Nevertheless, Maine has obstinately refused, even suing the USDA for the return of federal funding rescinded based on the state’s violation of Title IX.
While Maine has become a national flashpoint for the issue of transgender-identifying male athletes competing against girls, it is not the only state facing potential legal action for refusing to comply with the president’s order.
According to Bondi, California and Minnesota are the next states in the crosshairs of the DOJ for their refusal to comply.
Watch the full press conference here.
