As Maine continues to be a focal point of the sports culture debate about transgender athletes in women’s sports, the state’s Public Schools Superintendent Ryan Scallon has now said his piece on the situation. The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it found the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School all in violation of Title IX following an investigation into trans-inclusion in girls’ sports. “What HHS is asking of the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) and Greely High School is simple — protect female athletes’ rights. Girls deserve girls-only sports without male competitors. And if Maine won’t come to the table to voluntarily comply with Title IX, HHS will enforce Title IX to the fullest extent permitted by the law,” OCR Acting Director Anthony Archeval said in a statement to Fox News Digital. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMHowever, there has been pushback to this finding, as well as the HHS’ warning that the state has 10 days to correct its policies through a signed agreement or risk referral to the U.S. Department of Justice, from several authorities in Maine, which now includes Scallon.The superintendent likened the current transgender athlete battle to past U.S. civil rights issues during a recent statement.”In our country’s history, there have been many civil rights struggles, including, but not limited, to fights for women’s rights to vote, for racial equality and for gay marriage. In each of these fights, the opposition in part was driven by fear in attempts to ostracize other people who look, act or believe in something different.MAINE RESPONDS TO TRUMP ADMIN’S DECLARATION STATE VIOLATED TITLE IX BY ALLOWING TRANSGENDERS IN GIRLS SPORTS”Today, I see that happening again with transgender or non-binary students, and in particular, our transgender athletes. When I came to this district, I was focused on the work of educating students in improving our outcomes. I wasn’t interested in proactively speaking out on social matters or political matters. That said, it is simply unacceptable that there are efforts from our federal government, and some in our state, to ostracize a student population that is estimated to be less than one percent of our student population. “In light of this, I cannot continue to sit silently.”The Maine Principals’ Association issued a response to Fox News Digital after the OCR’s announcement on Monday. “The alleged violation is due to MPA’s policy which is a direct result of the Maine Human Rights Acts mandate that athletes be allowed to participate on the teams which align with their gender identity. MPA’s policy is consistent with Maine State Law,” the response read.The Trump administration expanded its Title IX investigation into Maine last week, citing violations of President Donald Trump’s executive order statin
The Superintendent of Maine Public Schools has compared the issue of transgender participation in women’s sports to previous civil rights movements in the United States.
