U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine have split on a bill that would bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports and have direct implications in a standoff between Gov. Janet Mills and the Trump administration.
The proposal would determine Title IX protections based exclusively on a person’s “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
If approved, it would effectively enshrine President Donald Trump’s recent executive order banning transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams. And it would also end varying interpretations of Title IX protections, which some presidents have used to extend to people based on their gender identity.
The Trump administration has targeted Maine and at least two other states for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports by arguing that the states are violating Title IX, a 1972 law that expanded education and athletic opportunities for women.
Collins, a Republican, voted to advance the bill Monday. King, an independent, joined Democrats in opposing it, saying individual states should make such determinations and that the bill could affect Maine’s share of federal funding.
King, in a statement, acknowledged that some may be frustrated that transgender athletes can compete on women’s sports teams, but he said that the bill would mean that the state could lose all federal funding if a single Maine school district decided not to comply with a federal mandate.
Maine’s Human Rights Act extends protections based on gender identity, which has allowed some transgender athletes to compete on women’s sports teams. Mills has argued that Maine law conflicts with Trump’s transgender edict.
“While these are complex issues, considerations of fairness and safety in sports are made every day by parents, educators, and school administrators at the local level,” King said. “We should keep it that way and allow local communities to decide what’s best for their districts and their students, and let states abide by the will of their citizens. In other words, I see this as a state’s rights issue which should not require a one-size-fits-all federal solution.”
King also worried that the bill’s vague enforcement provisions could allow schools to adopt “inappropriate practices” to verify the sex of their students.
He added, “I find it odd that many of those supporting this legislation have exactly the opposite position when it comes to women’s reproductive choices — that that issue should be left to the states — while the question of transgender athletes requires a federal solution which overrides local control.”
The Republican-led Senate voted, 51-45, to approve the bill but it failed to advance because it needed 60 affirmative votes.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
