The divisive, national issue of transgender students participating in high school athletics is expected to be a significant backdrop at Maine’s Class B and Class C championship track and field meets Tuesday, at which two transgender girls are competing — one of whom has the potential to set a Class B meet record.
Both athletes have been the subject of repeated social media posts and speeches by Republican lawmakers in Maine and elsewhere who argue transgender girls should not be allowed to compete on girls teams, saying it is unfair to the other competitors.
The Maine Principals’ Association, which oversees interscholastic sports in the state and manages championship events, declined to say if it planned extra security preparations for the state track meets. The MPA sent a memo on Thursday to track coaches asking for civil, respectful sportsmanship of all people attending the meets. The memo was from Freeport athletic director Eric Hall, the chair of the MPA’s outdoor track committee.
“We have all experienced the growing presence of political and personal views at our athletic contests,” the memo said. “While we have handled these added challenges with professionalism and care, it remains our shared responsibility to ensure that these events remain centered on the student-athletes and the spirit of fair competition.”
The memo asks all coaches, administrators and announcers to “actively share and reinforce this message of sportsmanship,” and regularly announce that, “Any comments or actions targeting individual student-athletes are unacceptable and will not be welcomed.”
Sportsmanship messages are routinely read over the public address system at high school events.
On Friday, the MPA postponed the three state championship meets from Saturday to Tuesday because of “the high likelihood of thunderstorms and rain throughout the day.” Class A was shifted from its original site Brewer Community School to Lewiston High; Class B was moved from Freeport to Mount Desert Island in Bar Harbor, and Class C remains at Messalonskee High in Oakland.
Bar Harbor Police Chief David Kerns said Monday he does not have any security concerns at the Class B meet. Kerns added there will be a police presence at the meet, which is common for most sporting events.
DEBATE INTENSIFIES
At the Class B meet, a Greely High pole vaulter is the top seed in her event, with a season-best height of 11 feet, which is nearly a foot-and-a-half higher than the second seed and 6 inches shy of the meet record. The sophomore won the Class B indoor pole vault title, and Greely edged Freeport by one point for the team championship. Maine’s all-time best girls outdoor pole vault mark is 12-0, recorded in 2008.
At the Class C meet, a junior from Maine Coast Waldorf — which competes in a co-operative arrangement with North Yarmouth Academy — was the 800-meter champion in 2024. She is not entered in the 800 this year, but is seeded ninth in the 1,600 and is listed as part of NYA’s second-seeded 3,200-meter relay team. She also is a two-time Class C South champion in cross country and has competed in Nordic skiing.
Both athletes competed in boys events as freshmen.
The Maine Human Rights Act, originally passed in 2005, prohibits discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation. It was amended in 2019 to include gender identity as its own protected class. Based on the current Maine statute, it is unlawful to deny equal opportunities in education, including athletics, based on gender identity.
Over the past several years, many states have passed laws to ban transgender students — especially transgender girls — from participating in school-sponsored athletics. Currently, 27 states have laws that ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, and two other states have similar state regulations or an agency policy, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
A poll conducted in May by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed 72% of adults in the United States think transgender girls should not be allowed to participate in girls high school sports, a result consistent with the 73% who said transgender women should not be allowed to compete in college or professional women’s sports.
The intensity of the debate — particularly in Maine — increased after President Donald Trump on Feb. 5 issued an executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” At a meeting of governors at The White House in February, Trump told Maine Gov. Janet Mills that if the state did not comply and keep transgender athletes out of school sports, the state would lose all of its federal funding, to which Mills declared, “See you in court.”
The exchange happened Feb. 21, four days after Maine Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, gained national attention when she highlighted the Greely pole vaulter’s state championship in a public post on her Facebook page. That Libby included a photo of the athlete, identifying a minor as transgender, led to her censure along party lines by the Maine House of Representatives.
Libby has consistently voiced her opinion that transgender girls should not be allowed to participate in girls sports, including a recent post on X that read, “This weekend biological males are stealing podium finishes & state championships in Maine, California, Washington, Oregon & Minnesota … Thanks to @GovJanetMills & the extreme left.”
The Maine legislature is currently considering several proposed bills that, in various ways, would ban transgender participation in girls sports.
Aroostook County school district MSAD 70, based in Hodgdon, chose in April by unanimous school board vote to align its policies with the new federal standard.
Well before transgender athletic participation became a national hot-button topic, the MPA had policies in place to allow athletes to participate based on their gender identity. In 2024, the MPA shifted the process of determining a student’s gender identity to local schools, removing a layered waiver process it previously used.
Last weekend, transgender girls won state track championships in California and Washington. During the California meet’s qualifying events, a plane flew overhead with a banner that read “No Boys in Girls Sports!” One person was arrested outside the meet that day after getting in physical confrontation with a protester.
