Several hundred people rallied at the State House on Saturday to oppose policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' and women's sports in Maine.
Rally-goers held signs declaring "Protect our girls" and "No men in women's sports" as they listened to roughly a dozen speakers. Those included a high school athlete from Presque Isle who said she has had to compete against biological males. And multiple Republican state lawmakers repeated claims that Maine's policy puts young female competitors at an unfair competitive disadvantage as well as at physical risk.
Republican Rep. Liz Caruso of Caratunk was among several lawmakers who urged attendees to also show up for future hearings on bills to reverse Maine's current policy allowing athletes to compete in sports based on their "gender identity."
"As much as I am grateful for the national attention that has been coming to Maine, really none of this is going to change anything unless we change something in that building right there," Caruso said while motioning to the State House.
Transgender students account for a tiny fraction of scholastic athletes in Maine. The Maine Principals' Association has said there are only two transgender athletes competing in girls' high school sports statewide this year out of tens of thousands of participants.
Yet Saturday's "Girl First" rally underscored how the issue has resonated with some Mainers, particularly among conservatives who accuse public school leaders of adopting a "woke" agenda. Advocates for Maine's trans community, meanwhile, have expressed concerns about how the heated political rhetoric and anger over transgender athletes could affect an already marginalized and vulnerable population.
Maine has been in the national spotlight ever since another Republican state lawmaker, Rep. Laurel Libby of Auburn, posted on social media the picture and name of a high school transgender athlete who had won a girls' track and field championship. The post quickly went viral and eventually came to the attention of President Donald Trump, who had signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women's and girls sports.
Trump later publicly clashed with Gov. Janet Mills in a brief-but-tense exchange that drew national attention. When Trump pressed Mills on whether Maine would comply with the executive order, the governor said the state was following state and federal law and that she would "See you in court."
The Trump administration responded with investigations into Maine's compliance with Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against women in educational settings. The administration has also sought to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from the state, although some was later restored.
Many attending Saturday's rally wore pro-Trump hats and clothing. And all of the lawmakers who spoke were Republican, although numerous polls suggest that a large majority of Americans oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' and women's sports.
Saturday's rally featured Chloe Cole of California, who received transition treatment and surgery as a young teenager but who now advocates nationally against gender-affirming care.
"Maine's Human Rights Act was amended four years ago to include gender identity as a protected characteristic," said Cole, who is now 20. "But we all understand that it is not a human right for a man to assert himself as a woman and to infringe upon real women's fairness, privacy and safety."
Maine's Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in educational programs — includine school extracurricular activities — based on the individual's gender identity. The Maine Principals' Association updated its policy in recent years to comply with that state law.
Rep. Laurel Libby, the Auburn lawmaker whose social media post helped re-ignite the debate over transgender athletes in Maine, was notably absent from Saturday's rally, at least at the microphone.
Democrats censured Libby in the Maine House for her post, accusing her of endangering the welfare of the juvenile athlete for political purposes. Libby responded by suing House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, alleging the censure violates her and her constituents constitutional rights because she is not allowed to speak or vote on the House floor until she formally apologizes.
Maine's Democratic-controlled Legislature has rejected numerous attempts in recent years to rollback protections for transgender individuals, including bills to limit access to gender-affirming care. But with the issue of transgender athletes now in the spotlight in Maine, lawmakers are bracing for a robust debate over several proposals to change that policy,
While Gov. Janet Mills told Trump last month that Maine "See you in court" over his threats to withhold federal funding, she also told reporters recently that she expected a robust debate in the Legislature over the transgender athletes policy. A former state attorney general, Mills declined to weigh in on the policy.
Meanwhile, a coalition of roughly three dozen health and LGBTQ organizations issued a joint statement last month after Libby's controversial post urging lawmakers to exercise restraint and caution in the coming legislative debates.
"As these bills go through their hearings, language will get heated and tempers will get high," the groups said in the statement posted on EqualityMaine's website. "We urge legislators and Legislative leadership to remember that children and private citizens are off-limits, and personal attacks go against Maine values, basic decency, and endanger families. It is never okay for people in positions of power to use their roles to draw attention or harassment toward people who are just trying to live their lives with privacy and safety."
