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The Trump administration is suing Maine after the state’s leadership refused to bow to President Donald Trump’s demand that transgender children be treated like second-class citizens.
The Department of Justice alleges in its suit filed Wednesday that Maine is in violation of the federal Title IX anti-discrimination law because it continues to allow transgender girls to participate in school sports.
In February, Trump signed the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” that instructs the federal government to withhold funds from states that do not adhere to Trump’s ideological belief that gender is restricted to the sex assigned at birth.
But Maine has a state law, the Maine Human Rights Act, which considers gender identity a protected class and specifically states that denying equal opportunities in school athletic programs is considered discrimination.
“Today is the latest, expected salvo in an unprecedented campaign to pressure the State of Maine to ignore the Constitution and abandon the rule of law,” Democratic Gov. Janet Mills of Maine said in a statement.
She went on to say that Trump does not have the power to force Maine to comply with his anti-trans demands.
“As I have said previously, this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot,” Mills wrote.
The confrontation between Mills and Trump first flared up in February, when the president chided Mills for declining to comply with his edict when she attended a White House ceremony.
“You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t,” Trump threatened.
“See you in court,” Mills replied.
Since then, the Trump administration has launched multiple federal investigations into Maine as retribution for the state not complying with its pro-discrimination stance.
In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, before the suit was filed, Mills said that she’s “appalled” at Trump’s stance and his belief that “he could just rewrite the law.”
And, Mills noted, there are currently only two transgender athletes competing in Maine schools, despite Trump putting the full weight of the federal government on the state.
When this fact was pointed out to Attorney General Pam Bondi during an appearance on Fox News Wednesday, she angrily dismissed it, saying that “one is too many” and that Mills “shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have done this.”
As in other cases of the Trump administration’s extreme overreach, a federal court recently ruled against its actions.
On April 12, U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock ordered Trump to unfreeze federal funds from the Department of Agriculture that are dedicated to Maine. These funds had been cut off because Maine was in “defiance of federal law,” according to the Trump administration.
The Trump administration’s fight with Maine is just one of many fronts in recent GOP attempts to attack transgender equality and relegate trans Americans to second-class status. The Republican Party has attempted to motivate conservative voters by relentlessly attacking trans people.
But Maine is fighting back, and now the administration is escalating its lawless crusade against basic human rights.
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