Politics
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WESTBROOK, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills on Friday denounced a push to keep transgender girls out of girls’ school sports, a long-debated issue that framed her conflict last year with President Donald Trump and will go to the November ballot.
“It’s targeting some of the most vulnerable kids in our society,” Mills said at an event with Westbrook Mayor David Morse and other elected officials. “It’s cruel, and Republicans have made this a political ploy, putting kids … in their sights.”
The outgoing governor, who is vying for the chance to face five-term Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, noted that her late husband was a high school coach, and credited sports for bringing their five daughters a “feeling of accomplishment” and camaraderie.
The remarks on the heated issue, which is sure to be one of many arising in the closely watched Senate race, come as Mills continues to tour the state with meetings and events in several cities as polls show her way behind progressive military veteran Graham Platner.
Mills sparked headlines last year for telling Trump the state would see him in court after he threatened to pull federal funds if Maine continued allowing transgender student-athletes to compete. It led to a protracted battle over federal funding to several programs across Maine, many of which were later overturned.
Platner in a Slate podcast last month characterized the effort to bar trans athletes as an attack on transgender rights, noting the small number of transgender kids competing in scholastic sports.
“There are 40,000 Mainers who are going to lose health care because of the lack of the Affordable Care Act extension,” he said. “One of those things seems very important and real to me. One of them seems like an invented culture-war scare to keep people divided.”
Collins gave her signature to the effort to get the question on the ballot. It would bar transgender girls from girls sports teams and private spaces that align with their gender identities.
In March, the five-term senator voted in favor of Alabama U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s amendment to a larger elections bill that would have restricted trans women and girls from taking part in female sports. The amendment was blocked by Senate Democrats.
Collins, who said transgender people “deserve to be treated with respect and dignity,” noted her vote reflected a “longstanding position that transgender athletes should not compete in girls’ and women’s athletics, calling it “a matter of fairness, safety and giving girls and women the opportunity to excel in sports.”
Nick Adolphsen, executive director of the evangelical Christian Civic League of Maine, said Friday that the group wished the legislature passed the bill either last year or this year, but is grateful for the citizen referendum process.
“The concerns of Maine girls are not political, not a ploy, and they should not be dismissed that way,” he said.
