The Maine Human Rights Commission is suing five school districts over policies that ban transgender students from playing sports and using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, according to the Bangor Daily News.
The lawsuit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court on Monday asks that those policies be repealed, arguing that they are discriminatory and violate state law, the newspaper reported.
The lawsuit names Maine School Administrative District 70 in Hodgdon, Regional School Unit 24 in Sullivan, RSU 73 in Livermore Falls, the Baileyville School District and the Richmond School Department, the report stated.
At least eight Maine school districts have opted to align their transgender policies with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump this year, prohibiting students assigned male at birth from competing on girls’ sports teams.
Gov. Janet Mills and Trump had a heated exchange on the issue at a National Governors Association meeting in February, and she told him, “See you in court.” Trump has threatened to pull funding from schools that do not comply with the order.
The Maine Human Rights Act, passed in 2005, bans discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
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