A school district in Maine is defying the federal government’s Title IX ban on transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
Maine School Administrative District 51 announced on Thursday that a transgender student at Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine, will be permitted to continue playing in girls’ sports, Fox News reported.
School officials insist that state law takes precedence over Title IX rules, that they are “bound by the law,” and that they will “continue to follow state law and the Maine Human Rights Act.”
“To our students: Thank you for your maturity, perseverance, and dedication to learning through these distractions. Please continue to lead the way,” the district said in its statement.
This outcome stands in contrast to a recent poll of Mainers, which found that 60 percent oppose allowing transgender athletes to play in girls’ sports.
Maine leapt into the news in February when Maine Democrats censured a Republican representative for speaking out against trans athletes. Maine’s left-wing governor also garnered headlines for a confrontation over the issue with President Trump during a meeting of governors in the White House.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills faced President Trump down on February 21 during a meeting with state governors at the White House when he noted that if Maine did not obey his Title IX rules, the state would lose federal education funding. Mills insisted from the back of the room that Maine will follow state and federal laws, to which Trump responded, “Well, we are the federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
Mills responded, “See you in court.”
“Good, I’ll see you in court,” Trump said. “I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
Then, following that incident, Maine’s Democrat-controlled state legislature censured Republican Rep. Laurel Libby after she criticized the state for allowing trans student Katie Spencer to compete in girls’ high school sports.
The legislature not only tried to quash Libby’s freedom of speech, but they even clamped a gag order on her so that she could not speak on the floor of the state House, preventing her from properly representing her voters in the legislature.
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