School boards that have bucked Maine’s legal protections for transgender students are making quick decisions after a Maine regulator filed a lawsuit against five of them last month.
After news of the suit from the state’s Human Rights Commission broke last month, at least two school boards are set to discuss their next steps. One could move as soon as this week to overturn its policy and adhere to state law. Other districts in conservative areas of the state could dig in for the battle ahead.
The scrambling school districts are responding to only one layer in a complex legal battle. President Donald Trump’s administration has sued Maine and other states with similar protections in their civil rights law, but a pair of cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court are already in motion and could have large effects on the wrangling here.
On Tuesday, Sullivan-based Regional School Unit 24 will weigh whether to rescind its new trans athlete policy and Livermore Falls-based RSU 73 will consider whether to retain new lawyers after Drummond Woodsum, the firm that represents it and most other Maine school districts, advised board members against passing the policy this summer.
Other districts could dig in for the battle ahead. Baileyville’s school board decided last week to seek counsel from the Steve Smith Trial Lawyers, a conservative firm based in Augusta that has been advising districts wanting to switch their policies.
The debate centers on Title IX, which bars sex discrimination by schools receiving federal money. Trump, a Republican, says that law protects single-sex sports and spaces without regard to gender identity, and that transgender students ought to participate only alongside those sharing their birth sex or on co-ed teams.
Maine law considers such a ban illegal discrimination, which has led the federal government to sue the state. That court fight is not likely to render a decision until late in 2026. The Supreme Court cases out of Idaho and West Virginia could be decided sooner.
In January, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., a pair of cases dealing specifically with whether bans on allowing transgender athletes on sports teams that align with their gender identities violate Title IX and the Constitution.
Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion of a landmark 2020 case that found Title VI, which bars sex-based employment discrimination, also barred discrimination against gay and transgender people. A decision in Little is likely to come before a ruling in either Maine-specific case.
Representatives of RSUs 24 and 73 did not respond to requests for comment. Neither side of the legal debate has a “slam dunk case,” Harris Van Pate, a policy analyst for the conservative Maine Policy Institute, which pushed school districts across Maine to bar trans athletes, said.
“Anyone who claims that is speaking inaccurately,” he said. “This is a case where courts are going to have to clarify to the nation that this is a very complicated, nuanced legal issue and simple solutions may not actually exist.”
The state has weighed in on the Supreme Court cases alongside several other Democratic-led states. Attorney General Aaron Frey signed onto an amicus brief alongside 15 other attorneys general last month. Frey’s office declined to comment on the brief.
“Allowing transgender girls and women to participate in girls’ and women’s sports promotes inclusive school environments that benefit all, and does not compromise fairness or reduce opportunities for cisgender students,” the brief said.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.
