The Maine Principals’ Association has issued a response to the Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights’ declaration that it, along with the Maine Department of Education and Greely High School, violated Title IX by allowing males in girls’ sports.
This follows a compliance review initiated last month following a brief confrontation between Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump at the White House over Maine's policies on transgender student-athletes. The clash plunged Maine into the national spotlight and reinvigorated a debate over gender and sports.
In the time since, the Democratic majority in the Maine House of Representatives has voted to censure Republican State Rep. Laurel Libby over a controversial post she made before the showdown between Mills and Trump, showing pictures of and naming a transgender athlete competing in a girls' track and field competition in Maine.
Trump’s Executive Order on Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports mandates that each federal department "review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order," which protects women "as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth." (News Center Maine)
MPA said its position was in compliance with state law.
"The alleged violation is due to MPA’s policy which is a direct result of the Maine Human Rights Acts mandate that athletes be allowed to participate on the teams which align with their gender identity. MPA’s policy is consistent with Maine State Law," MPA told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"The determination that MPA has violated Title IX first requires that MPA be beholden to Title IX due to receiving direct or indirect funding from the federal government," the statement continued. "In short, a small portion of our funding comes from 151 member schools who receive the majority of their funding from local property taxes and the state. The vast majority of our funding comes from ticket sales, sponsorships, streaming, television and other contracts. Therefore, it is MPA’s position that HHS does not have Title IX jurisdiction over MPA."
HHS gave the three entities 10 days to rectify the issue through a signed agreement or face potential consequences from the Department of Justice.
MPA said it anticipates this issue will be debated in the Maine legislature to determine future policy.
"We urge all parties to this issue to air their questions, concerns, thoughts or opinions where they belong; in respectful debate in public hearings on the bills addressing this issue," the MPA statement added. "As always, we urge members of the public to keep this debate among adults and let our kids be kids. Please do not single any of our student athletes out, they are only abiding by the policy that the Maine Human Rights Act mandates."
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