USDA Freezes Funding to Maine Over Transgender Athlete Policy

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a pause and ongoing review of federal funding to Maine, citing the state’s refusal to adhere to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, as per Fox News.

The move follows a previous warning from President Trump, who vowed to cut federal funding if Maine did not comply.

USDA Secretary Brooks Rollins stated that the state must demonstrate compliance with Title IX, specifically concerning the protection of female athletes, before funding will be reinstated. “In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins wrote in a letter to the state.

The USDA is also conducting a comprehensive review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education, with Secretary Rollins stating the department’s commitment to prioritizing a “farmer-first” agenda.

“In addition, USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education. Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration. USDA will not stand for the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda.”

The controversy stems from Maine’s policy on transgender inclusion in high school sports. GOP state Rep. Laurel Libby played a key role in highlighting the issue after posting on social media about a transgender track and field athlete at Greely High School who won a Maine girls pole vault competition after competing as a boy the previous year. This sparked a national debate, with Libby subsequently facing censure from the Maine House Democrat majority for identifying a minor. She has since filed a lawsuit to have the censure lifted.

Further pressure is mounting on the state, with the US Department of Education giving the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) until April 11 to address the issue or risk referral to the Department of Justice. The Department of Health and Human Services already referred Maine to the DOJ last week.

This announcement is not the first funding freeze the USDA has issued to Maine over this issue. On March 11, the department temporarily paused funding to the University of Maine System (UMS) while conducting a Title IX compliance review. Funding was restored just days later after the USDA announced the system was in full compliance.

However, the core of the debate remains at the high school level, with multiple reports of biological males competing in girls’ sports and sharing locker rooms with female students. Maine teen Cassidy Carlisle, for example, shared her experience of having to share a locker room with a trans student in middle school and competing against a trans athlete in Nordic skiing last year.

A recent survey by the American Parents Coalition found that 63% of registered Maine voters believe school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it’s “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.” The poll also indicated that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women’s and girls’ sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with children under age 18.