AUGUSTA, Maine – Three Maine voters have filed a legal challenge seeking to overturn the Secretary of State’s certification of a citizen initiative that would require school sports teams and sex-separated facilities to be designated by biological sex, opening a new front in one of the state’s most contentious political and legal fights.
The lawsuit, filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, on Friday, by Augusta resident Jane Gilbert, Portland resident Mark Sayre, and Lewiston resident Kaitlin Webber, targets Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ March 17 decision validating the petition for “An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex.” Bellows’ office certified 71,033 valid signatures out of 79,692 submitted, clearing the 67,682-signature threshold required to advance the initiative.
According to the court challenge, the plaintiffs argue the signature-gathering process was flawed and allege that some petitions were left unattended, some out-of-state circulators were not properly certified, and some duplicate signatures may have been counted more than once.
If the initiative ultimately survives the legal challenge, it will go first to the Maine Legislature. Lawmakers can either enact the measure as written or send it to voters for a statewide referendum on November 3, 2026.
The proposal would require Maine schools to designate sports teams, bathrooms, locker rooms, shower rooms, and similar private facilities based on a student’s sex at birth. While supporters say the measure is about fairness and privacy, opponents argue it would roll back existing protections for transgender students under the Maine Human Rights Act.
Leyland Streiff, lead petitioner and co-leader of Maine Girl Dads, told the Maine Wire on Monday that the campaign remains fully confident in the Secretary of State’s review.
“We continue to be confident about the Secretary of State’s process, her team’s thorough work, her validation of our petition, and ultimately the margin of success our initiative maintained to clear the threshold and get this on the November ballot,” Streiff said. “This issue will go to the ballot, and it will win in November. Mainers deserve to vote on this issue, and any effort otherwise is anti-democracy.”
Streiff said the lawsuit was expected and would not derail the campaign.
“A challenge to the Secretary of State’s validation is not surprising; it was expected and it will be overcome,” he said.
He also sharply criticized groups opposing the initiative, including EqualityMaine and the Maine Women’s Lobby.
“However, what IS surprising is that the organizations purporting to stand for equality and fairness (EqualityMaine) and for the rights of women and girls (the Maine Women’s Lobby), are doing everything they can to continue to discriminate against school children on the basis of their Sex – a protected class based on federal law, state law, and common sense,” Streiff said.
“Our petition ensures sex is given equal protection and opportunity under the law, and it will effectively end the sex-based discrimination happening today in schools all across Maine,” he added. “If a young female (or male) wants a private single-sex space (like a bathroom or locker room), or a single-sex sports opportunity, they are owed that morally and legally. We will not settle for the sex-based discrimination that EqualityMaine and The Maine Women’s Lobby are championing. The children of Maine deserve better.”
The legal challenge comes as opposition groups have already begun organizing for a broader ballot fight. A coalition including EqualityMaine, the Maine Women’s Lobby, and GLAD Law announced earlier this month that it had formed a ballot question committee called the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools to oppose the initiative, calling it harmful and discriminatory.
The dispute is unfolding against a much larger legal and political backdrop. The Trump administration sued the Maine Department of Education in April 2025 over the state’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete based on gender identity, alleging it violates Title IX. Maine has also faced separate federal enforcement pressure over the issue.
At the state level, the Maine Human Rights Commission filed suit in November 2025 against multiple school districts that adopted policies restricting transgender students’ participation in sports and access to facilities, alleging those policies created a hostile educational environment for gender-nonconforming students.
For now, the immediate question is whether the signature challenge can knock the initiative off course before it reaches the Legislature or the ballot. But regardless of how the court rules, the case makes clear that Maine’s fight over school sports, sex-based spaces, and transgender rights is headed for an even more visible and expensive statewide showdown.
