HHS Office of Civil Rights: Maine Dept. of Ed, Maine Principals' Association, and Greeley High School violated Title IX

WASHINGTON, DC - Fox News Digital reports that on Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School violated the Title IX Civil Rights Act. 

One of the first acts taken by President Donald Trump after his inauguration was to issue an executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” banning biological males from competing in women’s sports in educational and athletic institutions. 

Congress enacted Title IX for two purposes; one was to avoid the use of federal resources to support discriminatory practices in education programs, and second, to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices. (Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 704 (1979).

Title IX further provides under 65 Fed. Reg. 52873-52874 at i1/2§…450(c) that: “The regulations go on to provide that a recipient that operates or sponsors interscholastic, intercollegiate, club, or intramural athletics shall provide equal opportunity for members of both sexes. A number of factors are set forth to determine equality of opportunity, including but not limited to the provision of equipment, scheduling of games and practice time, travel and per diem allowances, assignment and compensation of coaches, provision of locker rooms, provision of medical and training facilities, provision of housing facilities and publicity.” 

Last week, the Trump administration expanded a Title IX investigation into the state of Maine, citing violations of the president’s executive order. 

The Maine Principals’ Association, the governing body of high school athletics in Maine, and Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine, were added to the list of Maine institutions being investigated. The OCR also announced an investigation of the Maine Department of Education “based on information that Maine intends to defy” the president’s executive order. 

Trump had a much-publicized dispute with Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, during a governor’s association meeting at the White House. The president called the state out by name and threatened to withhold federal funding if the state did not comply with his executive order. 

Only days after announcing the investigation, HHS issued a “Notice of Violation.” The OCR’s letter to the three entities offers them an opportunity to “voluntarily commit within 10 days to resolve the matter through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for appropriate action,” Fox News Digital said. That notice came after the investigation from the OCR found none had complied with Title IX and had, in fact, violated Title IX. 

“The Maine Department of Education may not shirk its obligations under Federal law by ceding control of its extracurricular activities, programs, and services to the Maine Principals’ Association,” Anthony Archeval, Acting Director of the OCR at HHS, said in a press release. “We hope the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School will work with us to come to an agreement that restores fairness in women’s sports.” 

The goal of the executive order was to “protect female student-athletes, in the women’s category, from having to ‘compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.’” The order also mandated each federal department to “review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order.” 

Maine Republicans railed against Mills’ policy, noting that the state’s Department of Education received nearly $1 million in funding from HHS sub-agencies alone, according to a press release. They called on Mills to comply with the president’s executive order with the funding for K-12 schools being threatened if she did not. 

“If Maine Democrats continue to double down on allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports, our students stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding. Gov. [Janet] Mills and legislative Democrats have a renewed opportunity to do the right thing, to ensure restored funding and a fair and level playing field for Maine girls,” Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby, a Republican, said last week. 

Libby was the center of controversy when she posted a Greely High School pole vaulter, a biological male competing in girls’ sports, winning the state championship as a female. Libby was censured in the Maine state legislature by partisan Democrats for the post, which showed the same male previously competing with his true gender while next to an image of him winning the women’s pole vaulting competition in February. 

Mills claims Trump’s executive order is in conflict with Maine’s Human Rights law. She said following the executive order would defy state law, which currently allows participation based on the person’s claimed gender identity. 

“No President–Republican or Democrat–can withhold federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers [an overwhelming majority who oppose doing so] in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will,” Mills said in a statement when HHS announced the investigation. “It is a violation of our Constitution and our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.” 

A Gallup poll conducted in February found that 70% of Maine residents oppose athletes playing in sports outside of the gender they were born as, WABI-5 reported.