Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order making clear that schools and colleges that allow biological males to compete in women’s and girls’ varsity sports violate Title IX. Education institutions that continue this practice, Trump’s order declared, would be denied federal funding.
Most Americans welcomed an end to a bizarre policy adopted by various varsity sports associations that allowed biological men to compete against women and girls in such varied sports as shot put competition, swimming, and pole vaulting. In essence, Trump’s order announced that the emperor wore no clothes, and people who believe that only girls should be allowed to compete with other girls in school sports no longer need fear being branded as transphobic.
The NCAA immediately jumped on board, announcing  it would comply with Trump’s executive order. Henceforth, the NCAA announced, only athletes who were assigned female at birth could compete in collegiate women’s sports.Â
However, the reaction to Trump’s order was mixed at the high school level. Some high school sports associations revised their policies about transgender sports competition to comply with the Trump directive. Others vowed to continue allowing biological males who identify as female to compete with real girls in varsity sports.
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For example, the Maine Principals Association declined to comply with President Trump’s executive order, and a biological male who identified as female was recently named the state champion in the girls’ pole vaulting event. Laural Libby, a Maine State legislator, revealed that this transgender athlete had competed as a male in a previous year and had only tied for fifth place.
President Trump, aware of Maine’s defiance, confronted Maine Governor Janet Mills at a governors’ conference in Washington and warned her that Maine would lose federal funding if it refused to comply with his executive order. Ms. Mills did not back down. “See you in court,” was her response.
Here are my thoughts. Banning biological males from competing against girls in varsity sports is a simple matter of fairness. Congress adopted Title IX in 1972 to ensure fairness toward women and girls in school sports, and politicians and educators who interpret Title IX as permitting transgender participation in girls’ sports are engaging in sophistry.
Moreover, states choosing to litigate the transgender sports issue in court are wasting their money on lawyers. Who believes biological males will be allowed to compete in women’s sports when this litigation is concluded? Trump’s executive order will ultimately prevail in the courts, and this controversy will die away.
So why is Governor Janet Mills defying President Trump’s executive order? In my view, Mills is engaged in expensive virtue signaling– willing to risk the loss of federal education funding for her state to publicize her opposition to Donald Trump.Â
If so, Mills should pick another issue to fight about other than transgender sports competition. I strongly suspect that the majority of her constituents are opposed to biological boys competing against girls on Maine’s athletic fields. In fact, I’m sure they think it’s nuts.
Governor Mills has chosen the wrong hill to die on. She may not care about her political future since she is 77 years old, in her second term as governor, and prohibited by the Maine Constitution from running for a third consecutive term.Â
However, her foolish stance on transgender participation in girls’ sports will be remembered by the voters as a crackpot notion of the Democratic party, which could turn Maine into a swing state or even a red state in the coming years.
