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FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) referred the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) to the Department of Justice Friday, as the state continues to allow trans athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
It is the second DOJ referral the state’s educational institutions have faced in the last month over the issue, after the Department of Health and Human Services referred MDOE, the Maine Principal’s Association and Greely High School on March 28.
Now, the OCR informed Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster of a second DOJ referral in a letter on Friday. The letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, states that earlier on Friday the Maine Attorney General’s office formally notified OCR that it would not sign a resolution agreement to amend the state’s gender eligibility policies to comply with Title IX, so the DOJ referral must be made.
“Accordingly, OCR has determined compliance cannot be secured by informal or voluntary means,” the letter read. “OCR now refers this matter to the Department of Justice with a recommendation for appropriate proceedings, to enforce all legally available remedies.”
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OCR also says it is initiating proceedings to have further funding to the state suspended or frozen.
“This letter also serves as notice to MDOE that OCR is initiating administrative proceedings to suspend, terminate, defer final approval, and/or refuse to grant or continue Federal financial assistance to MDOE,” the letter read.
Last Tuesday, the USDA announced a funding freeze to the state over the issue.
Maine officials then filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday following the agency’s decision to freeze funding to the state for its refusal to reverse its transgender athlete participation policy in schools.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Maine Attorney General’s office for comment on Friday’s referral.
The state has been under immense federal pressure in recent months to protect female athletes from trans inclusion amid several controversial incidents involving trans athletes and an ongoing feud between President Donald Trump and Maine Governor Janet Mills.
After Trump signed an executive order to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports on Feb. 5, Maine was one of the many state that openly defied the order. The state’s divide on trans inclusion was then brought to light when Maine state representative Laurel Libby made a social media post that identified a trans athlete that won a girls’ pole vault competition for Greely High School that month.
The post prompted national awareness, including from Trump himself, who vowed to cut off funding the state if it continued allowing males in girls’ sports during a meeting of GOP governors on Feb. 20. The very next day, Mills’ office released a statement threatening legal action against Trump engaged in a verbal spat with Mills over the issue at a bipartisan meeting of Governors later that day.
Just hours after that, the U.S. Department of Education announced its initial investigation into the state for potential Title IX violations.
Meanwhile, Libby was censured for her social media post on the premise that she identified a minor by name and photo. However, Libby has since filed a lawsuit to have the censure overturned, arguing the trans athlete had already been identified by other media prior to her post. The lawsuit has gone to trial in a Rhode Island district court.
In addition to the incident involving the pole vaulter at Greely High School, other instances have impacted multiple girls across the state who have had to compete with and share locker rooms with biological males.
Maine teen Cassidy Carlisle previously told Fox News Digital about how she had to share a locker room with a trans student while in middle school, then had to compete with another trans athlete in Nordic skiing last year.
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“The defeat that comes with that in that moment is heartbreaking,” Carlisle said. “I’m just in shock in a way. I didn’t believe it. … I didn’t think it was happening to me.”
A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it’s “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.”
The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women’s and girls sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with kids under age 18.
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