Maine defends transgender athletes as federal education money standoff deepens
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Trump at the White House on April 8. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Maine won't bar transgender athletes from competing in women's sports despite President Trump's threat to withhold federal funding, the state attorney general's office said Friday.
The big picture: After Maine refused to budge, the Department of Education referred its Title IX investigation to the Department of Justice "for further enforcement action" and said it would initiate proceedings to cut federal K-12 education funding.
- The Trump administration has been clashing with the Democratic state's leadership as it seeks compliance with the president's executive order banning transgender women from women's sports.
Driving the news: The Maine Attorney General's Office in a letter to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights on Friday refused to sign an agreement directing the state's education agency to change its transgender athlete policy.
- "Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls' and women's sports teams," Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster wrote in the letter, stating they would not sign the agreement.
- The state attorney general's office said it does not have revisions to counter propose and "we agree that we are at an impasse."
What they're saying: Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement that the Department of Education "has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state's leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students' safety, privacy, and dignity."
Zoom out: Trump's executive order signed in February denies federal funding for schools that allow trans women or girls to play in capacities corresponding with their gender identity.
- Schools that don't abide will be considered in violation of Title IX, per the order.
The latest: Also on Friday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to immediately unfreeze any federal funding it may have paused over Maine's alleged failure to comply with Title IX.
- The state sued after its education department's Child Nutrition Program said it was unable to access several sources of it federal funds last week.
Go deeper: "See you in court," Maine governor tells Trump after transgender athlete threats
Editor's note: The story has been updated with a federal judge granting Maine's request to unfreeze federal funds for child nutrition programs.
