(Photo by Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced on Monday that it determined the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School in Cumberland are each in violation of Title IX for allowing transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports.
On Feb. 21, DHHS issued a notice of violation against the Maine Department of Education for violating that same federal civil rights law, which bans sex-based discrimination in schools and colleges, and on March 5 expanded the compliance review to MPA, which governs sports in Maine, and Greely High School.
According to DHHS, the entities can “voluntarily commit within 10 days to resolve the matter through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for appropriate action.”
This expanded investigation provides an even stronger link between these probes and a social media post from Maine Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn).
The post on her legislative Facebook page included photographs and personal details about a transgender high school athlete from Greely High School and referred to MPA’s policy that continues to allow transgender students to participate in scholastic sports that align with their gender identity, in accordance with the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, among other protected classes.
Days after the post, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold funding from Maine for not complying with his executive order seeking to ban transgender women from competing in sports that correspond with their gender identity.
The Maine House of Representatives voted to censure Libby for posting personal information of a minor online, and Libby has since filed a federal lawsuit against Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford), accusing him of violating her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
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