The Maine Human Rights Commission this week sued five school districts over the districts' transgender sports policies.
According to WMTW, the commission alleges that the five districts adopted a "hostile education environment for gender-nonconforming students."
The lawsuit targets MSAD 70 in Hodgdon, RSU 24 in Sullivan, RSU 73 in Livermore Falls, the Baileyville School Department and the Richmond School Department, all of which have policies in place that closely align with the Trump administration's policy of not allowing transgender students to participate in women's sports.
The lawsuit states that students are harmed by the policies in that they cannot be sure that they will be protected from discrimination when they participate in athletic competitions.
In April, MSAD 70 adopted a policy that aligns with the Trump administration's.
Baileyville adopted a policy that bathrooms, locker rooms and athletic teams will be separated by biological sex and "no student of one sex shall be allowed to play on a team designated for students of the opposite sex."
In October, RSU 73 passed a policy that only recognizes two sexes: biological male and biological female.
The commission argues that the harm from these policies begins as soon as they are adopted by intimidating transgender students and making them feel unwelcome and unsafe in a public school.
The news comes in the wake of a long battle between Maine and the White House. The Trump administration has attempted to withhold federal funding from Maine unless it adopts the administration's policy of banning transgender participation in girls' sports.
