In a meeting with governors at the White House on Friday, Donald Trump threatened the Democratic governor of Maine to comply with his executive order banning transgender women and girls from women’s sports or risk losing federal funding.
“Are you not going to comply with it?” Trump asked Maine Governor Janet Mills.
“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she replied.
“We are federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it. You better do it, because you’re not going to get federal funding … Your population doesn’t want men in women’s sports.”
“We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied.
“Good. I’ll see you in court. I’ll look forward to that. That should be a real easy one,” Trump said. “And enjoy your life after, governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
Hours later, the Trump administration initiated a federal civil rights investigation into Maine’s Department of Education.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to end “the dangerous and unfair participation of men in women’s sports” by directing federal law enforcement agencies to take “immediate action” against schools and associations that “deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms,” according to a summary from the White House.
During a signing ceremony surrounded by young girls, Trump claimed that the “radical left” has “waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology.”
The order followed a sweeping order impacting virtually every aspect of public life for trans Americans by erasing “gender” as a concept across federal agencies and effectively denying the existence of transgender, intersex and nonbinary people. Separate executive orders target gender-affirming healthcare for trans people under 19 and ban trans service members from the U.S. military.
Following several lawsuits targeting his anti-trans agenda, the administration was blocked from transferring trans women to men’s facilities and upending healthcare for young trans people, while judges across the country have condemned what they see are explicitly prejudicial actions aimed at removing trans people from public life.
His executive order threatens to withhold funding for schools where transgender athletes participate on women’s teams and orders major athletic organizations to ensure no trans athletes are competing. The administration also is pressuring the International Olympic Committee to ban global trans athletes from entering the United States, threatening to deny visas for trans athletes for the Olympic games.
In a statement before the meeting, Mills said Maine “will not be intimidated by the president’s threats.”
“If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” Mills said.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement that any attempt by the president to cut federal funding to the state “would be illegal and in direct violation of federal court orders.”
“Fortunately, the rule of law still applies in this country, and I will do everything in my power to defend Maine’s laws and block efforts by the president to bully and threaten us,” Frey said.
Trump’s Department of Education is now investigating the state for alleged Title IX violations and whether trans women and girls are competing in Maine athletics, as the administration continues to smear trans women as “men.”
“Maine would have you believe that it has no choice in how it treats women and girls in athletics — that is, that it must follow its state laws and allow male athletes to compete against women and girls,” acting Education Secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. “Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX. If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice.”
