Maine trans athlete battle: More schools act to take Trump’s side on issue

Another Maine school district has taken matters into its own hands in the state’s dispute over transgender athletes in girls sports. 

On Tuesday, the board of directors for Maine’s Region School Unit (RSU) No. 24 voted 7-1 to rescind a policy that allows trans athletes to compete in girls sports. 

The rescinded policy, Policy JB, stated that “students shall be able to participate in accordance with the gender identity asserted at school.”

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RSU No. 24 Superintendent Michael Eastman confirmed to Fox News Digital that the district and its schools will stop following the policy immediately. 

“At its meeting last night, after respectful deliberation, the RSU No. 24 Board of Directors voted 7-1 (one director was absent) to rescind Policy JB — Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students,” Eastman said. “This change will take place immediately. We appreciate the turnout last evening and thank those residents who addressed the board with their thoughts regarding the policy.”

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RSU No. 24 operates five public schools in Sullivan, Maine. Hancock county, where Sullivan is located, voted in favor of Donald Trump in November’s election by a margin of 52.9% to 45.3%. 

Eastman’s district is not the first to amend a gender eligibility policy in recent weeks. 

The MSAD No. 70 School Board voted unanimously in mid-April to comply with Title IX, “recognizing only two sexes — biological male and biological female — and that all private spaces be separated by biological sex.”

MSAD No. 70 Superintendent Tyler Putnam told Fox News Digital that, due to this vote, he is now directed to amend the district’s policies to prevent trans athletes from competing in girls sports. 

“The motion directs me to rewrite our policies to adhere to the motion,” Putnam said. “It is my interpretation that the school board will be looking to approve policies that align biological sex to their specific athletic teams too, i.e. biological males will be playing with only other biological males and the same for biological females. These policies will need to be approved by the policy committee and the board once rewritten.”

Maine is being sued by the Department of Justice for failing to come to an agreement to comply with Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. Maine has loosely allowed trans athletes to compete with girls since 2005, when the Maine Human Rights Act prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. 

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The Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) updated its policies in 2024 to explicitly allow transgender students to compete on teams matching their gender identity. 

The state, particularly its Democratic leadership led by Gov. Janet Mills, is doubling down to defy Trump and protect its trans athletes’ rights to compete against girls and share girls locker rooms. 

Many residents, and now school districts, have taken steps to oppose Mills. There have been multiple protests across the state, including two at the state Capitol in August, by activists looking to protect girls from trans competitors. 

Attention to the issue was magnified this past week after a trans athlete won multiple events at a girls track meet. 

A trans-identifying athlete who competed for North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Maine, at the Poland-NYA-Yarmouth-Seacoast meet, won the 1600-meter with a time of 5:57.27, blowing away the second-place runner who finished with a time of 6:16.32. In the 800-meter, the trans athlete had a closer first-place finish with a time of 2:43.31, just around a second better than the second-place finisher with a time of 2:44.87.  

In October 2023, Fox News Digital reported that this athlete was transgender.

A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said that school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.”

The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women’s and girls sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with kids under age 18.

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