Conservative groups are prepared to help fund the legal defense for Maine school boards that are bucking state law to bar transgender students from playing on sports teams and using private spaces that align with their gender identities.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group, will cover legal fees incurred in lawsuits filed by the Maine Human Rights Commission last month, the Livermore Falls-area school board chair told fellow board members at a Thursday meeting. The Maine Education Initiative, another conservative group, will also put together a defense fund, she said.
“I’m 98 percent sure the funding will be available,” Shari Ouellette told the Regional School Unit 73 board.
The promise of private backing seemed to convince board members in RSU 73 to keep their new policy in place. Thursday’s meeting showed the strategy that conservative groups are employing to keep school districts in the legal fight following the lawsuit from the state regulator.
The conservative-majority board based in Livermore Falls voted 9-4 in favor of continuing to reject the state’s protections for transgender students. Ouellette said some board members from RSU 73 and other schools facing the lawsuit had met on Zoom to discuss strategy. The district’s usual counsel, Drummond Woodsum, advised against passing the change in August.
After voting to let the policy stand, board members went into executive session to seek legal advice from Jack Baldacci, a lawyer from the conservative firm Steve Smith Trial Lawyers and the son of former Democratic Gov. John Baldacci. At least one other district facing a lawsuit, Baileyville in Washington County, has already decided to hire the firm.
Maine’s battle over transgender school policies is being fought on multiple fronts. President Donald Trump’s administration sued the state earlier this year looking to enforce its opinion that Title IX, the landmark 1973 civil rights law, renders transgender protections like Maine’s moot.
That case is expected to be decided late in 2026. A U.S. Supreme Court case originating in Idaho could determine how federal civil rights law interacts with state policies surrounding transgender students even sooner. The court will hear oral arguments in that case next month.
It was unclear on Thursday how the defense funds are designed to work and whether boards would need to vote on allowing their lawyers to accept payment from an outside source. Cost was a major concern for liberal board members and public commenters at RSU 73’s meeting. Many of them appeared unaware of the possibility of a legal defense fund.
“You were warned by your district’s attorneys, our superintendent, fellow board members and numerous community members that the policy would lead to a lawsuit,” Anne Wetherbee of Jay said during public comment. “Now you’re asking the town of Livermore, Livermore Falls and Jay to have another set of lawyers to defend your agenda.”
Even after learning that legal defense may be covered, some board members voiced skepticism. Citing the scant details about the plan to cover legal fees, board member Phoebe Pike said it was too much of a risk.
“There is so much more we could be doing for our students, and this is what we’re doing?” she said. “We’re gambling.”
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.
