Maine's education office is being ordered to ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports or face federal prosecution, an escalation in President Donald Trump's threats to pull federal money from states and schools over transgender athletes.
The U.S. Education Department on Wednesday said an investigation concluded Maine's education office violated the Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' sports teams and use girls' facilities. It's giving Maine 10 days to comply with a list of demands or face Justice Department prosecution.
“If Maine does not swiftly and completely come into compliance with Title IX, we will initiate the process to limit MDOE’s access to federal funding," Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement.
The federal investigation into Maine's Department of Education was opened Feb. 21, just hours after Trump and the state's Democratic governor, Janet Mills, clashed over the issue at a meeting of governors at the White House. During the heated exchange, Mills told the Republican president, "We’ll see you in court."
Messages to Mills' office and the state's education department were not immediately answered.
It's an astonishing turnaround for a civil rights investigation at the Education Department, which often takes months or years to resolve cases. The Trump administration has pushed harder and faster to punish alleged violators, in some cases drawing accusations that it's bypassing due process procedures required by law.
