The Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services referred the State of Maine to the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday — one day after the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) and Cumberland’s Greeley High School announced they refused to sign a voluntary resolution agreement the federal agency proposed after finding Maine schools to be in violation of Title IX protections earlier last month.
On March 17, HHS’ civil rights bureau found that Maine had violated the protections girls in school sports should be afforded against discrimination, which the participation of biological boys, or trans-identifying athletes, constituted, the agency then found. Following this determination, it proposed a path for Maine to resolve the breach, which the MPA has elected to ignore.
“Governor Mills and the Democrat majority refusal to comply with federal Title IX protections has now resulted in Maine being officially referred to the Department of Justice. This is a direct consequence of their radical policies that put ideology ahead of fairness and safety for Maine girls and the education of our students,” State Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) told Fox News Digital on Saturday.
Rep. Libby’s posting a photograph of a biologically male Greely High School student winning first place in a female pole-vaulting competition in February helped trigger not only a national debate on this issue — including a showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and Maine Governor Janet Mills — but also her being censured by Maine’s Democrat-controlled legislature in a move that has sparked national criticism of those seeking to silence her.
While the Justice Department cannot prosecute a state, it could either prosecute individuals or, more likely file a civil suit and get injunctions against individuals, attorneys familiar with federal-state legal dynamics say.
HHS is just one federal agency to have ruled that Maine has violated Title IX by refusing to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order barring biological males from female school sports. The Office of Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Education reached a similar determination this month.
Maine’s schools also came under investigation from the DOE last week for another violation related to transgender ideology’s impact on minors.
The DOE announced the investigation on Friday, alleging that schools across the state may be violating the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that ensures parents access to their children’s school records. The DOE accused Maine schools of intentionally refusing to give parents information about their children’s desire to transition to appear and present themselves as the opposite sex.
The Maine Wire and GraniteGrok are members of the Associated News Service.
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