BANGOR — Gov. Janet Mills said Thursday that she remains confident the federal government cannot legally pull funding from Maine over its stance on transgender athletes and welcomes the chance to fight a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration this week.

“I’m happy to go to court and litigate the issues they’ve raised in this complaint,” Mills said.

Mills said she watched part of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s news conference Wednesday, when Bondi announced the federal lawsuit and said allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports violates Title IX, a federal antidiscrimination law.

“The state of Maine is discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women’s sports,” Bondi said. “Maine’s leadership has refused to comply at every turn, so now we have no other choice — we are taking them to court.”

Bondi also said Maine could be just the beginning and that the lawsuit should serve as a warning to states with similar policies, especially California and Minnesota.

Mills stood her ground during a public appearance in Bangor Thursday and called the lawsuit a distraction from other issues.

“To me, these kinds of actions are a diversionary tactic from what the real issues are facing families across Maine and the United States, such as the price of eggs, bread, fuel and housing,” she said.

The governor also pointed to a Friday ruling from a federal judge temporarily blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture from cutting off funding to the state after the USDA announced it would freeze some funds due to Maine’s policy on transgender athletes. The ruling makes it clear that the administration cannot simply cut off funds over a policy disagreement.

“I’m in Bangor today for a tourism conference,” Mills said. “Maybe I disagree with the Bangor City Council over their trash fees and I don’t like what they’re doing. That doesn’t mean I can say, ‘Well, city of Bangor, you get no more school funds from the state of Maine.’ That’s what the federal government is trying to do, and they can’t do it.”

The Trump administration argues that allowing trans athletes is an illegal form of discrimination against girls and women, but that an interpretation of Title IX has yet to be tested in court. The federal law has been used to protect transgender people, as well as women, from discrimination.

Maine’s Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sex and gender identity, among other things. It is why the Maine Principals’ Association, the governing body for high school sports in the state, allows students to compete in high school sports based on gender identity.

Maine lawmakers are considering bills that could prevent transgender athletes from participating in girls sports and could change the state’s Human Rights Act to exclude protections based on gender identity.

Mills has not publicly announced a position on the bills. She said Thursday that changes to the law “are worthy of discussion.”

“But to target one small group of people in America, to divert attention from other real issues, to target people in a minority group who are already targeted in cruel and unfair ways, is a sad and cruel distraction,” she said.

Mills said that if the Trump administration wants to support girls and women, it should focus on health care. “You want to protect women and girls, start there,” she said.

MILLS ADDRESSES TOURISM DROP

Mills was in Bangor to speak at a two-day conference on Maine tourism hosted by the Maine Office of Tourism.

The conference comes amid predictions of a steep drop in the number of visitors coming to Maine this year from other states and Canada because of the Trump administration’s tariffs, resurging inflation and fears about an economic downturn, as well as anti-Canadian rhetoric from the president.

State tourism officials told lawmakers this month that Maine could see a 25% drop in Canadian tourists this year because of economic insecurity, the prospect of higher prices driven by new tariffs and lingering animosity over President Donald Trump’s talk of annexing Maine’s northern neighbor.

Mills said Thursday that many Canadians are now feeling unwelcome in the U.S. and are uncertain about visiting. “We can’t let that happen,” she said.

In a typical year, about 900,000 Canadians vacation in Maine, supporting local economies in communities like Old Orchard Beach. But state officials expect to see 225,000 fewer visitors this year because of federal policy changes and political rhetoric that have upended relations with Maine’s northern neighbor and most important trading partner.

“That’s hundreds of thousands fewer people staying in our hotels and B&B’s, fewer people making reservations at restaurants and shopping in our small businesses,” Mills said.

The governor said she has heard people suggest that the numbers could be made up with people visiting from other states or by encouraging Mainers to take day trips, but she said there would still be an economic impact from lost overnight visitors and Maine would be in the position of having to compete more with other U.S. states for tourists.

She said she has spoken with Canadian leaders to reassure them that Maine is eager to have their residents come visit.

Mills said she is considering taking a trip to Canada this summer, and she encouraged Maine people to do the same. “Enjoy their amenities and encourage Canadian people to come here,” Mills said. “We need them. We enjoy them.”