Latest news with #MaineStateLaw
Fox News
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Maine Public Schools Superintendent likens transgender in women's sports to past US ‘civil rights struggles'
As Maine continues to be a focal point of the sports culture debate about transgender athletes in women's sports, the state's Public Schools Superintendent Ryan Scallon has now said his piece on the situation. The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it found the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School all in violation of Title IX following an investigation into trans-inclusion in girls' sports. "What HHS is asking of the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association (MPA) and Greely High School is simple — protect female athletes' rights. Girls deserve girls-only sports without male competitors. And if Maine won't come to the table to voluntarily comply with Title IX, HHS will enforce Title IX to the fullest extent permitted by the law," OCR Acting Director Anthony Archeval said in a statement to Fox News Digital. However, there has been pushback to this finding, as well as the HHS' warning that the state has 10 days to correct its policies through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice, from several authorities in Maine, which now includes Scallon. The superintendent likened the current transgender athlete battle to past U.S. civil rights issues during a recent statement. "In our country's history, there have been many civil rights struggles, including, but not limited, to fights for women's rights to vote, for racial equality and for gay marriage. In each of these fights, the opposition in part was driven by fear in attempts to ostracize other people who look, act or believe in something different. "Today, I see that happening again with transgender or non-binary students, and in particular, our transgender athletes. When I came to this district, I was focused on the work of educating students in improving our outcomes. I wasn't interested in proactively speaking out on social matters or political matters. That said, it is simply unacceptable that there are efforts from our federal government, and some in our state, to ostracize a student population that is estimated to be less than one percent of our student population. "In light of this, I cannot continue to sit silently." The Maine Principals' Association issued a response to Fox News Digital after the OCR's announcement on Monday. "The alleged violation is due to MPA's policy which is a direct result of the Maine Human Rights Acts mandate that athletes be allowed to participate on the teams which align with their gender identity. MPA's policy is consistent with Maine State Law," the response read. The Trump administration expanded its Title IX investigation into Maine last week, citing violations of President Donald Trump's executive order stating biological males are not allowed to compete in women's sports in educational and athletic institutions. Trump's Executive Order 14201, better known as "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports," was signed to "protect female student athletes, in the women's category, from having to 'compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.'" In turn, the executive order also mandated each federal department to "review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order." Republican legislators in Maine called on Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, to comply with Trump's executive order with millions in federal funding for K-12 schools being threatened as a result of not doing so. "If Maine Democrats continue to double down on allowing biological males to participate in girls' sports, our students stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding. Gov. [Janet] Mills and legislative Democrats have a renewed opportunity to do the right thing, to ensure restored funding and a fair and level playing field for Maine girls," state Rep. Laurel Libby, R–Auburn, said this past Thursday. Libby became a prominent figure in this Maine debate after posting a Greely High School pole vaulter on social media. The pole vaulter competed as recently as June 2024 as a biological male, and ended up winning a state championship as a woman. Democrats in the Maine state legislature censured Libby for the post, which showed the athlete competing as a male, while next to an image of the athlete winning the women's pole-vaulting competition in the Maine Class B indoor championship in February. Trump called out Maine shortly after Libby's post began to stir up debate. Trump had a public argument with Gov. Mills at the White House, where he threatened state funding if Maine did not "clean that up." Mills replied that she would see Trump "in court." Mills, in congruence with the Maine Principals' Association, argues that Trump's executive order conflicts with Maine's current Human Rights law. As a result, following the executive order would defy state law, which currently allows athletic participation based on the person's stated gender identity. "No President – Republican or Democrat – can withhold federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will," Mills said in a statement when the HHS initially announced its investigation. "It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump admin responds to Maine's reluctance to ban trans athletes from girls' sports
As Maine continues to defy President Donald Trump's executive order to ban trans athletes from girls' sports, the administration has ramped up its focus on the state as one of the key battlegrounds over the issue. Earlier this week, Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) officially announced it found the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School in violation of Title IX for its continued enabling of trans inclusion in girls' sports. Now, OCR acting director Anthony Archeval has provided a statement to Fox News Digital warning of potential consequences for continued defiance of the executive order. "What HHS is asking of the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association, and Greely High School is simple – protect female athletes' rights. Girls deserve girls-only sports without male competitors. And if Maine won't come to the table to voluntarily comply with Title IX, HHS will enforce Title IX to the fullest extent permitted by the law," Archeval said. HHS' initial announcement that the entities had violated Title IX also warned that the state had 10 days to correct its policies through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for appropriate action. The Trump administration recently has reportedly made good on its vow to cut federal funding to enforce the executive order. On Wednesday, FOX Business reported that $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania has been paused over its past inclusion of trans athletes in women's sports. Last week, a temporary pause was put on Department of Agriculture funding to Maine University System, Fox News Digital reported. That funding has since been reinstated. Now, Archeval's warning comes one day after the Maine Principal's Association issued a response to the Trump administration's declaration that the state had violated Title IX. "The alleged violation is due to MPA's policy which is a direct result of the Maine Human Rights Acts mandate that athletes be allowed to participate on the teams which align with their gender identity. MPA's policy is consistent with Maine State Law," the response read. "The determination that MPA has violated Title IX first requires that MPA be beholden to Title IX due to receiving direct or indirect funding from the federal government. In short, a small portion of our funding comes from 151 member schools who receive the majority of their funding from local property taxes and the state. The vast majority of our funding comes from ticket sales, sponsorships, streaming, television and other contracts. Therefore, it is MPA's position that HHS does not have Title IX jurisdiction over MPA." HHS served a notice of violation to the state of Maine on Feb. 25 and declared the state violated Title IX by allowing trans athletes to compete in girls' sports, Fox News Digital reported. HHS later expanded the scope of the investigation to include the Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School. Maine became a focal point on the issue after state lawmaker Laurel Libby pointed out a biological male had won a girls' pole vault competition for Greely High School in early February. Trump then vowed to cut funding to the state for refusing to follow his order on Feb. 20, during a meeting of GOP governors. Gov. Janet Mills' office responded with a statement threatening legal action against the Trump administration if it withheld federal funding from the state the next day. Then Trump and Mills verbally sparred in a widely publicized argument at the White House during a bipartisan meeting of governors. Just hours after that interaction, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would investigate the state for allowing trans athletes to compete in girls' sports and for potential Title IX violations. Meanwhile, Libby has since been censured by the state legislature over her initial social media post that pointed out the trans athlete, and she has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to have the censure overturned. The controversy has even incited a protest against Mills called the "March Against Mills" outside Maine's State House on March 1. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Maine responds to Trump admin's declaration state violated Title IX by allowing transgenders in girls sports
President Donald Trump's Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights announced on Monday that the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School are all in violation of Title IX as they violate his executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls sports. The Maine Principals' Association issued a response to the announcement on Tuesday, to Fox News Digital. "The alleged violation is due to MPA's policy which is a direct result of the Maine Human Rights Acts mandate that athletes be allowed to participate on the teams which align with their gender identity. MPA's policy is consistent with Maine State Law," the response read. "The determination that MPA has violated Title IX first requires that MPA be beholden to Title IX due to receiving direct or indirect funding from the federal government. In short, a small portion of our funding comes from 151 member schools who receive the majority of their funding from local property taxes and the state. The vast majority of our funding comes from ticket sales, sponsorships, streaming, television and other contracts. Therefore, it is MPA's position that HHS does not have Title IX jurisdiction over MPA." The DHHS has said Maine has 10 days to resolve the issue through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for appropriate action. The MPA added in its response that it expects the issue to be discussed in the Maine legislature. "MPA looks forward to a robust debate in the Maine legislature to determine the future of its policy on this topic. We urge all parties to this issue to air their questions, concerns, thoughts or opinions where they belong; in respectful debate in public hearings on the bills addressing this issue," the statement read. "As always, we urge members of the public to keep this debate among adults and let our kids be kids. Please do not single any of our student athletes out, they are only abiding by the policy that the Maine Human Rights Act mandates." HHS served a notice of violation to the state of Maine on Feb. 25 and declared the state violated Title IX by allowing trans athletes to compete in girls sports, Fox News Digital previously reported. HHS later expanded the scope of the investigation to include the Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School. The state has become a heated battleground for the national debate over trans athletes in girls sports, after state lawmaker Laurel Libby pointed out an incident of it happening when a biological male won a girls pole vault competition for Greely High School in early February. Trump then vowed to cut funding to the state for refusing to follow his order on Feb. 20, during a meeting of GOP governors. Maine Governor Mills' office responded with a statement threatening legal action against the Trump administration if it withheld federal funding from the state the next day. Then Trump and Mills verbally sparred in a widely publicized argument at the White House during a bipartisan meeting of governors. Just hours after that interaction, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would investigate the state for allowing trans athletes to compete in girls sports and for potential Title IX violations. Mills, in congruence with the Maine Principals' Association, argues that Trump's executive order conflicts with Maine's current Human Rights law. As a result, following the executive order would defy state law, which currently allows athletic participation based on the person's stated gender identity. "No President – Republican or Democrat – can withhold federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will," Mills said in a statement when the HHS initially announced its investigation. "It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
