The Trump administration and Maine attorney general's office have reached a settlement over the ongoing feud over frozen funds stemming from the state's stance on biological males competing in female sports.
"It's unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations. But we are pleased that the lawsuit has now been resolved and that Maine will continue to receive funds as directed by Congress to feed children and vulnerable adults," Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said Friday.
In March, the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights issued a final warning to the Maine Department of Education regarding its refusal to comply with a directive to "protect women and girls from discrimination in sports or intimate spaces." The warning follows another investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' civil rights office initiated in March that found Maine in violation of Title IX for "continuing to unlawfully allow" boys to compete in girls' sports.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture under Secretary Brooke Rollins ultimately froze money to the state's education programs after it refused to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order that said biological males could not compete on girls' sports teams. "In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX's protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males," Rollins wrote.
The animosity between the Trump administration and Maine had been brewing since February when Trump and Maine's Democrat Gov. Janet Mills argued during a governors meeting regarding the administration's executive order. Mills proudly announced that her state will not comply. "You'd better comply, otherwise you're not getting federal funding," Trump said. Since that time, Maine has been caught allowing transgender females, or those who were born male, to continue to compete in athletics against girls.
The same month the Democrat-controlled Maine legislature censored Republican Rep. Laurel Libby for a series of viral post highlighting a male athlete's victory in the girls' state pole vaulting championships.
The settlement signed Friday states that neither side in the dispute admits wrongdoing, but it does prohibit USDA from freezing funds based on alleged violations of Title IX unless the department follows federal procedures.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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