Conservative Augusta school board member James Orr took a stand against radical gender ideology in schools on Monday, vowing to oppose any proposed budgets until the district decides to comply with federal Title IX antidiscrimination law.
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“I’m going to be voting no. The reason why I’m going to be voting no is just as a point of until [sic] we decide that we are going to follow federal law and Title IX and stop this gender nonsense, I’m not going to be voting in favor of any budget until we can get identity politics out of our schools,” said Orr.
Currently, the Augusta School District allows trans-identifying males into girls’ private spaces and sports, in compliance with the state-level Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) and in opposition to the Trump Administration’s interpretation of federal Title IX antidiscrimination law.
Orr announced his decision at the March 16 Augusta School District budget meeting.
Though there was not a show of hands vote at the meeting, Orr told the Maine Wire that the Board supported the budget 6-1, with his being the only vote against it.
The $43,979,718 proposal is a significant, 9.2 percent increase, sure to be felt by Augusta taxpayers. The budget will now be presented to the City Council for approval.
In late February, Orr received a letter of admonishment from Board Chair Martha Witham, formally reprimanding him for, in part, his failure to “graciously support” the school board’s decision to allow trans-identifying males into girls’ spaces.
He began to respond to that admonishment on March 11, during the board’s regular meeting, but he ran out of time before he could finish his statements.
At that meeting he also addressed serious issues facing the school, including chronic absenteeism, inappropriate LGBTQ-themed books in school libraries, and a class on Ramadan.
He plans to address the letter at the meeting scheduled for April 8.
