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One State’s Education Department Instructed Schools to Defy Trump’s Trans Athlete Executive Order

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  July 30, 2025 1:30 PM

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "No Men in Women's Sports," mandating that Title IX be interpreted as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports. This came after years of transgender athlete nonsense that was pushed by the Biden administration. 

Trump called the legislation "common sense."

"From now on, women's sports will be only for women," he said. "The war on women's sports is over."

"America rejects transgender lunacy," he added.

Predictably, several left-wing states asserted that they would not comply with this order. 

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This week, emails obtained by Fox News Digital show the Maine Department of Education directing schools to defy Trump’s executive order protecting women’s sports. 

In the emails, Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin drafted memos for schools suggesting that they follow Maine state law surrounding transgender athletes, not Trump’s order.

"Last week, we advised schools to adhere to the Maine Human Rights Act and your local school board policies related to nondiscrimination. We encourage you to continue to keep all people safe and we reiterate the fact that, at present, neither our state law nor your local policies are diminished by the executive orders directing action at the federal level,” one memo said. This was from Jan. 28 and was provided to Fox by parental rights organization Parents Defending Education.

That’s not all. Makin corresponded with Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster with a draft memo for schools to instruct them to ignore Trump’s executive order (via Fox News):

"… this EO changes nothing for Maine schools," part of an email discussing the memo wrote. The memo draft said "Maine schools should continue to follow the laws of our state and the provisions within their local policies."

Then, in a Jan. 31 email, Makin drafted another memo to superintendents and school leaders addressing the executive order. 

"The Executive Order does not alter the obligations of schools under state law, including the Maine Human Rights Act, and does not require any immediate changes to locally adopted school board policies," the memo read.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon reacted to this revelation on X.

"Deliberately defying federal law is exactly why [the Department of Education] found Maine in violation of Title IX- and why DOJ is continuing its lawsuit against the state. If you ignore federal law, there will be consequences," McMahon wrote.

Earlier this year, Maine Governor Janet Mills lashed out at President Donald Trump for freezing funding for education in the state after state officials asserted they would not comply with federal Title IX policies barring men from women’s sports, as Townhall covered. 

Maine openly defied Trump’s transgender athlete executive order. Trump confronted Mills about this to her face, telling her that she’ll lose funding if her state doesn’t comply with the order.