AUGUSTA, Maine — Numerous proposals from Republican lawmakers seeking to change Maine’s policies on transgender athletes after President Donald Trump targeted the state will receive hearings Thursday and go far beyond sports.
The Judiciary Committee is expecting an all-day marathon of testimony on the seven Republican bills in addition to one other measure from Sen. David Haggan, R-Hampden, that would repeal legal protections for those who seek or provide gender-affirming care.
The bills do not have a clear path to passing in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, but two Democrats in the narrowly divided House have signaled a willingness to buck their party on the issue. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, has only said the state’s policies are “worthy of a debate.”
In any case, the proposals hold significance in a state that got national attention after Trump first took aim at Maine and federal funding in February after Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, used a viral social media post to single out a transgender student who won a state track and field title. The president then clashed with Mills over transgender policies during a White House event.
A University of New Hampshire poll released in March found 64 percent of Mainers believe transgender female athletes should not compete in sports aligned with their gender identity. The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Maine over the issue in a case that could wind up before the Supreme Court as Trump tries to reinterpret the landmark Title IX law by arguing it does not allow transgender female athletes to compete in scholastic sports.
The bills receiving hearings Thursday overlap in some areas. Legislative Republicans have pitched them in news releases as focused on “safety and equity in athletics and spaces.” EqualityMaine leader Gia Drew said they “won’t just hurt transgender girls, they will hurt everyone and subject all Maine girls to invasive procedures that violate personal privacy.”
Rep. Dick Campbell, R-Orrington, has a bill to prohibit any school and university that receives state funding from allowing transgender girls and women to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity. Sen. Sue Bernard, R-Caribou, has a similar bill that would also ban transgender females from facilities designated for use only by females. Assistant House Minority Leader Katrina Smith, R-Palermo, focuses on bathrooms in her bill.
Rep. Liz Caruso, R-Caratunk, proposed a sports-focused ban in a bill that would also require male-only and female-only bathrooms, changing rooms and sleeping quarters in public schools with limited exceptions. Schools could still have rooms designated as single-occupancy or for families under Caruso’s bill that opens up violators to civil lawsuits.
A separate bill from Caruso seeks to keep transgender people out of shelters by exempting privately owned emergency or temporary shelters for women from the “place of public accommodation” definition in the Maine Human Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination on the basis of gender identity, among other protected categories.
Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, proposed removing “gender identity” from the Maine Human Rights Act. Lawmakers have expanded the 1971 anti-discrimination law over the years, such as by making gender identity its own protected class in 2021. The Maine Principals’ Association cited those changes in continuing to allow transgender student-athletes to participate in sports based on their gender identity and said two transgender girls were competing this school year.
Lastly, Rep. Sheila Lyman, R-Livermore Falls, a retired elementary school teacher, proposed requiring public school staff to refer to a minor student by the name listed on their birth certificate unless their parent or guardian provides permission or official documentation of a legal name or gender change.
