A coalition of thousands of fathers in Maine is collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would allow voters to decide next year whether or not “trans” individuals should have access to girls’ spaces and sports.
According to Maine Girl Dads’ website, the proposed bill, “Protect Girls’ Sports in Maine,” would require schools and other entities to protect female-only spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams.
“Simply put, we want districts across Maine to re-institute sex-based policies in school & sport. No more males in female spaces nor sports,” the website states.
The website calls the coalition’s attitude toward female sports “purely paternal” and “based in common sense.” The fathers argue that the Maine Principals’ Association is promoting policies that endanger female students and violate Title IX. They also say that the proposed bill “will harmonize the Maine Human Rights Act with Federal Title IX, resulting in requirements and protections for individuals with biologically-verifiable differences in sex development.”
The ballot referendum needs 70,000 signatures before it can be placed before voters next year. If passed, the bill would go into effect Jan. 1, 2027.
“It’s time for us all – dads and advocates alike – to band together, raise our voices, and speak out against the madness of males in female sports and spaces,” the coalition’s website states.
WMTW, a Portland, Maine, area affiliate of ABC, reported that Maine authorities and the federal government have disputed women’s sports for months, ever since Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said earlier this year that she would not comply with President Donald Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” CatholicVote reported at the time that Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the state if Mills did not keep men out of women’s sports competitions.
WMTW also reported that the state’s lawmakers have previously considered five bills related to the issue, but each piece of legislation has failed.