Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins has signed a state referendum petition that aims to bar transgender students from playing on sports teams or using bathrooms based on their gender identity.
Collins' decision to sign the petition for the prospective 2026 referendum is consistent with her past statements on the issue. But it's also a departure from her typical reluctance to weigh in on matters affecting state law, including ballot initiatives.
Organizers of the ballot initiative seek to prohibit transgender athletes from participating on girls' sports teams and also from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The proposal requires Maine schools to designate "male" and "female" teams. Students would be required to play on teams that match the gender on their birth certificates. It also provides students a "private right of action" that would allow them to sue a school district if they're deprived of "an athletic opportunity" or suffer an injury under the proposed law.
The proposal would also impose restrictions on bathrooms transgender people use, aligning them with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Transgender athletes on girls' sports teams is viewed as a hot-button issue for Republican voters. Collins is expected to seek her sixth term next year and her potential Democratic challengers, including Gov. Janet Mills and oyster farmer Graham Platner, have different views on the practice.
A spokesperson for Collins said she believes a landmark 1972 law known as Title IX provided opportunities for women and girls to participate in athletics, but that it makes distinctions on the basis of sex, not gender identity.
The Trump administration has a similar interpretation of Title IX and has sued states, including Maine, with laws that don't conform. The administration's view conflicts with Maine's Human Rights Act. The Maine Legislature expanded the law in 2021 to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
The legal dispute will be resolved in federal court and began when President Donald Trump confronted Mills at the White House earlier this year.
Mills would later say the confrontation prompted her to challenge Collins in next year's midterm elections. She has said the issue of transgender athletes on girls' sports teams is open for debate and that her battle with the president was more about him directing her to violate state and federal laws.
Republican-led efforts to rollback Maine's expansion of transgender rights were defeated in the Democratic-controlled legislature this year. None of the proposed bills advance to Mills' desk.
Collins' spokesperson said the senator will not be involved in the referendum campaign. The proposal was only recently launched and still must qualify for the 2026 ballot.
