A judge is limiting the information the Maine Principals’ Association must turn over in the federal government’s lawsuit against transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
The judge is granting the federal government’s request for rosters of all athletes in school sports, but is denying access to “lists of all known” transgender athletes.
The Maine Principals’ Association governs interscholastic sports in Maine and had objected to the federal requests as overburdening.
The Trump administration is suing Maine, claiming the state is violating federal discrimination law (Title IX) by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
The Principals’ Association, along with an intervening party, Portland Public Schools, claimed the information sought was irrelevant, disproportionate, and burdensome, and protected under privacy laws.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf ruled Tuesday that the government may have access to rosters from the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years showing student participation.
“While I am unsure exactly what the Government hopes to glean from the rosters, I accept that the rosters are broadly relevant,” Judge Wolf stated in her decision.
Concerning the federal request for the list of transgender athletes, the Principals’ Association said it does not maintain a list of transgender athletes, and only possesses requests by transgender athletes to participate in sports before the 2022 policy change allowing such participation.
The Principals’ Association contends that those records contain personal biographical details and sensitive healthcare records.
Judge Wolf ruled that the burden of producing such sensitive records outweighs any likely benefit to the federal government.
The judge also questioned the motivation of the federal request for information on transgender athletes.
“There is good reason to be cautious in requiring the disclosure of the names of individual transgender athletes and their personal details, where, as other courts have recognized, this “Administration has been explicit about its disapproval of the transgender community,” Judge Wolf wrote in her decision.
The overall federal lawsuit under the Trump administration against Maine’s practice of allowing transgender athletes in girls’ sports is ongoing.
