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Maine girls to speak out on trans athletes as parents renew ballot push
ReMaine girls to speak out on trans athletes as parents renew ballot push
Maine high school athletes and parents will publicly address competition against transgender athletes as a committee submits nearly 5,000 signatures for a 2027 ballot measure on girls' sports and school facilities.
Maine high school girls will speak publicly on Monday about competing against transgender athletes, as parents prepare to submit nearly 5,000 additional signatures in a renewed effort to place restrictions on girls' sports and school facilities before voters. The news conference, set for Nov. 2 in Augusta, takes place one day before Maine's closely watched Senate election and returns attention to an issue that drew a public clash between President Donald Trump and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in early 2025.
The Protect Girls Sports in Maine ballot committee is seeking a place on the 2027 ballot after an earlier petition fell 532 valid signatures short of qualifying for this year's election. Two female athletes from Windham High School and Fryeburg Academy are scheduled to take part alongside parents, representatives of Alliance Defending Freedom and the Independent Council on Women's Sports, known as ICONS. Leyland Streiff, the committee's principal officer and a leader of Maine Girl Dads, said about 100 volunteers collected the additional signatures over the past month. He said the group needed only 532 more signatures to reach the 2027 ballot but was submitting almost 5,000. The signatures still require review before the initiative could qualify.
The proposal, titled "An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex," would base participation in designated school sports and access to bathrooms and other private spaces on the sex recorded on students' original birth certificates. It would also allow students to sue schools over violations. ICONS co-founder Kim Jones said in a statement that the women and girls involved deserve fair and safe sports, along with privacy and dignity in places of undress. "There should be no male students on girls' teams, and no male students in girls' restrooms and locker rooms," Jones said. Retired professional soccer player Carly Smolak, who will appear with ICONS, said the effort concerns recognition of female athletes' accomplishments.
The renewed push follows months of litigation over the original petition. According to Maine's Supreme Judicial Court, organizers submitted 79,692 signatures in February, and election officials initially determined enough were valid to advance the proposal. A subsequent challenge led to a revised determination leaving the petition below the required 67,682 valid signatures. The dispute included 1,520 signatures collected by four nonresident circulators who had not timely consented to Maine courts' jurisdiction. The state's highest court upheld their invalidation on July 10. Organizers say they pursued a federal court challenge while collecting additional signatures to advance the initiative for 2027.
The debate placed Maine at the center of national scrutiny in February 2025, when a transgender Greely High School athlete won the girls' Class B indoor pole-vault championship. Greely won the girls' team championship by one point. Days later, on Feb. 21, Trump confronted Mills at a White House governors' event over Maine's refusal to follow his executive order barring transgender athletes from female sports. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding, while Mills said she would follow state and federal law. "See you in court," Mills told him. The Maine Principals' Association said its participation policy followed the Maine Human Rights Act, which protects against discrimination based on gender identity. Mills argued that Trump could not withhold congressionally appropriated funding to force the state to comply.
The renewed ballot effort coincides with a Senate contest between Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic former state Senate President Troy Jackson, scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026, a race that could help determine control of the Senate. Collins voted in March 2025 to advance the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and said in March 2026 that her longstanding position was that transgender athletes should not compete in girls' and women's athletics. Jackson voted in June 2023 to accept a committee recommendation against passing LD 930, legislation that sought to restrict participation in women's and girls' scholastic sports. In an April 2026 questionnaire during his gubernatorial campaign, he answered "No" when asked whether he supported a transgender sports ban and the dismantling of other protections under the Maine Human Rights Act.
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