2 female soccer players file Title IX complaint against Maine over trans sports rule
Two high school student athletes and their parents are filing a Title IX complaint against Maine over the state’s policy of allowing boys to compete in sports reserved for girls.
Alliance Defending Freedom sent a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on Monday on behalf of high school juniors Reagan Wilson, of Fryeburg Academy, and Morgan Clark, a varsity soccer captain at Windham High School.
At issue was a state antidiscrimination law regarding gender identity and the Maine Principals’ Association’s “Gender Identity Participation Policy,” which, among other things, defines gender identity as “a student's innate sense of their gender, which may be the same as or different from the sex assigned at birth.”
The policy also states that a “transgender student shall be eligible to participate” in sports “in accordance with either their birth sex or in accordance with their gender identity.”
“The member school shall have the sole authority to determine gender identity assignment for the purposes of athletic registration and participation in MPA sponsored events,” the policy adds.
According to the complaint, a copy of which ADF emailed to The Christian Post, Wilson and Clark are both accomplished members of girls’ varsity soccer teams in Maine.
“But because Maine’s unlawful policy allows biological males to compete in girls’ sports, the deck is stacked against them and every other girl who plays varsity soccer,” stated the complaint.
“Despite all their hard work and discipline, Reagan and Morgan may be denied the thrill of victory because Maine lets males with inherent biological advantages compete on girls’ teams.”
The document explains that a male who identifies as female plays on South Portland High School’s girls’ team and has helped them gain an unfair advantage against other teams.
“Reagan’s team has already lost to South Portland, and Morgan’s team tied, lowering their rankings,” the complaint states. “Reagan and Morgan urge OCR to step in, stop this violation of federal law, and protect the right of women and girls to compete on a level playing field.” Wilson’s Fryeburg Academy team lost to South Portland on Aug. 29, and Clark’s Windham team tied South Portland 1-1 on Oct. 1.
The complaint names the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, the South Portland School Department and the Windham Raymond School District as defendants. It cites President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14201 as authoritative.
Known as “Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports,” EO 14201 orders the Education Department to “take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms” through “clearly specifying and clarifying that women's sports are reserved for women.”
ADF Legal Counsel Tavia Bruxellas McAlister said in a statement released ahead of the complaint being filed that she believed Maine “is failing its female athletes.”
“Every time a male athlete competes on a female team, the athletic opportunities of deserving girls are destroyed,” McAlister said. “This violates Title IX by depriving female athletes of an equal opportunity to compete and win in their own sports.”
The complaint is the latest in a long-running dispute between Maine and the Trump administration. Last year, the federal Health and Human Services and Education Departments each found that Maine had violated Title IX by allowing trans-identifying males to compete in girls’ sports. After Maine declined to sign a federal resolution agreement, the Justice Department sued the state.
Maine officials have said the state’s policy complies with the Maine Human Rights Act, which includes gender identity among its protected classes. The Maine Principals’ Association has said it receives no federal funding.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in State of West Virginia v. B.P.J. that states can stop biological males who identify as females from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. The ruling did not address whether states can allow them to compete, the question ADF’s complaint asks federal officials to resolve in Maine.
