Maine Voters Will Decide Fate of State's Tiny Number of Trans Student Athleteshttps://www.them.us/story/maine-anti-trans-ballot-initiative-sports-question-debate 🔗Samantha Allen (16 April 2026)
Maine will officially ask voters in November to decide whether transgender student athletes will be allowed to play on teams matching their gender identity after lawmakers decided earlier this week to put the question directly on the ballot.
On Tuesday, faced with a citizen initiative to adopt anti-trans sports restrictions into law, the state legislature's judiciary committee opted to put the question on a fall ballot measure, as WGME reported. Local outlet WABI noted that a public hearing over the issue at the Augusta capitol building drew more than 150 people; notably, as of 2025, there were only two trans high school athletes competing in the entire state, according to Democratic governor Janet Mills and the Maine Principals' Association.
As currently written, the ballot question would read: "Do you want to change civil rights and education laws to require public schools to restrict access to bathrooms and sports based on the gender on the child's original birth certificate and allow students to sue the schools?" — a reference to the fact that Maine's anti-discrimination statutes include gender identity as a protected characteristic across multiple areas of public life, including education.
