Protect Girls Sports in Maine has filed an appeal with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court challenging a lower court’s decision blocking the group’s referendum question from appearing on the ballot this November.
Leyland Streiff of the organization indicated the group’s intent to appeal the ruling in a statement obtained by the Maine Wire last week.
Under the proposed legislation, students would only be eligible to play on sports teams and access protected spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms that align with their biological sex, regardless of whether or not they identify as transgender.
Although the petition to place this measure on the ballot was originally successful, receiving validation from the Secretary of State’s Office in March, three individuals sued alleging that signatures were improperly collected.
[RELATED: ‘Protect Girls Sports in Maine’ Referendum Cleared for November Ballot After Signature Validation]
Bellows agreed with the arguments being presented by the challengers and reversed her position on the petition’s eligibility in late May.
Submitted to the state were 8,067 petition forms with 79,692 signatures, of which 71,033 were certified as valid. Petitions in support of putting the question on the ballot had been in circulation since November 3, 2025.
Protect Girls Sports in Maine took the issue back to court shortly thereafter, arguing that the Secretary of State acted outside her authority.
[RELATED: Maine Girl Dads Ballot Fight Heads to Hearing as Signature Challenge Threatens November Vote]
Superior Court Judge Deborah Cashman ruled last week, however, that Bellows acted appropriately in rejecting an additional 4,000 signatures that were deemed to have been improperly collected.
Protect Girls Sports has now appealed this decision to the state’s highest legal authority.
The Maine Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in this case on July 1 at 10 a.m. in Augusta’s Capital Judicial Center.
Should the group prevail, the question that would appear on the November ballot would read:
“Do you want to change civil rights and education laws to require public schools to restrict access to bathrooms, other private spaces, and sports, based on the sex on every child’s original birth certificate, and allow students to sue the schools?”
keeping my fingers crossed that this gets on the ballot.
The democrats will fight hard to make sure this choice is never given to Maine voters.
If this bill gets to the ballot will Bellows demand RCV.
We can only hope common sense prevails
When I moved my family to Maine from Ithaca, NY in 1972, Common Sense prevailed. Now that creatures such as Mills and Sheena Bellows have risen, Communist Sense prevails.
Three assholes , a sleezy lawyer , and YOUR Secretary of State , get to overturn the wishes of OVER 70,000 Maine voters ……..
Only in Maine .
Does anyone know if there is a way to find out if our signature isn’t one of the ones that they are having an issue with.
Maine does not have a “supreme“ court because Massachusetts doesn’t have one, and in 1820, Maine copied Massachusetts’ system of government.
Massachusetts does not have a “supreme“ court because the Massachusetts legislature is known as the “great and general court” and often referred to as “the general court.”
Therefore, Massachusetts has a “supreme JUDICIAL court“ and hence Maine has a “supreme JUDICIAL court“ as well, for the very same reason.
As I understand it, the term legislature didn’t exist in 1620 when government was considered to be royal in nature, but by 1820 it did and that’s why Maine has a legislature instead of a court. But the people who founded the state of Maine still went so far as to state that it is the supreme. JUDICIAL court, and not just the Supreme Court.
If you want to get more interesting, Superior Court in New York State is called the New York Supreme Court because it’s supersede all county municipal courts, not because it’s the highest court in the state. It’s actually a trial court with appeals going to higher courts.
and Sheena Bellows does look as crazy as a duck shot in the ***.
She looks batsh!t CRAZY
It’s sad that Protect Girls sports have to fight a legal battle in a weaponized court system. I’m hoping but not expecting them to prevail.
How is it that those signatures were “improperly collected”? What was done or not done to cause that issue?