Washington (AP) – The government of President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a lawsuit against the Maine’s Department of Education for not complying with government measures to prohibit the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports, intensifying a dispute over whether the State meets a federal law that prohibits discrimination in education based on sex.
The demand occurs after weeks of disputes between the Republican government and the Democratic governor Janet Mills, which has generated threats to cut federal crucial funds and a confrontation in the White House when she told the president: “We will see each other in court.”
“We will continue to fight for women,” said Justice Secretary Pam Bondi at a press conference with the former university of Kentucky Riley Gaines, who has become a public figure of the opposition to transgender athletes.
The departments of education and health and human services of Trump have said that the Maine agency violates Title IX, which is the Federal Anti -discrimination Law, allowing transgender girls to participate in women’s teams.
Demand reflects a drastic philosophical change regarding the position on gender identity issues adopted during Democratic governments.
During the regime of former president Joe Biden, the Government tried to extend civil rights policies to protect transgender people. In 2016, the Department of Justice, then directed by the Attorney General Loretta Lynch, sued North Carolina by a law that demanded that transgender people use public bathrooms and showers that correspond to the genre that appears in their birth certificate.
The Maine authorities have refused to accept an agreement that would have prohibited the participation of transgender students in sports, arguing that the law does not prevent schools from allowing transgender athletes.
Trump signed an executive order in February, called “Maintain men outside women’s sports,” which gave federal agencies a broad freedom to ensure that entities that receive federal funds comply with the title IX in accordance with the interpretation of their “sex” government as the gender assigned to birth.
In the signing of that order, Trump was accompanied by Gaines and other female athletes that supported the ban. Gaines tied with a transgender athlete in fifth place in a championship of the National University Athletics Association in 2022 and has testified to legislators throughout the country on the subject. She and other people frame the issue as women’s rights.
In February, during a meeting with governors, Trump threatened Maine with withdrawing federal funds if the State did not comply with his executive order. Mills replied: “We will see you in court.”
Maine sued the government this month after the Agriculture Department said it would pause some funds for the educational programs of the State because, according to the government’s argument, Maine breached the law of Title IX. On Friday, a federal judge ordered the Administration to defrost the funds for a Maine Child Nutrition program.
Sarah Foster, MAINE General Sub -Procurer, said last week in a letter to the Department of Education that no part of the law “prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate in women’s sports teams.”
The questions about the rights of transgender people have become an important political issue in the last five years.
Twenty -six states have laws or policies that prohibit transgender girls from participating in women’s school sports. The states controlled by the Republican party have also prohibited medical care for gender statement for transgender minors and restricted the use of bathrooms in schools and, sometimes, in other public buildings.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump lashed out at the participation of transgender athletes in sports. As president, he has signed executive orders to do that and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, instead of gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in the courts.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
This article was published by Alanna Durkin Richer on 2025-04-16 08:47:00
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