Maine girls shouldn’t need a federal complaint for a fair game
On Nov. 2, ADF plans to ask federal officials to investigate Maine’s girls’ sports rules on behalf of two high school players, one day before the Senate election.
Maine's girls should not need a federal complaint to get a fair game, and Maine's officials are the reason they have one. On October 30, 2026, Jackson Thompson reported that two Maine high school girls planned to file a Title IX complaint on Monday concerning a transgender player on a rival girls’ soccer team. ICONS said: “Two Maine high school girls are set to file a federal Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on Monday.” The girls say Maine’s policy denies them fair competition1. ADF plans to submit the complaint Monday, Nov. 2, to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on behalf of Reagan Wilson, a Fryeburg Academy junior, and Morgan Clark, a Windham High junior and varsity soccer captain. The draft’s scoring chart credits the South Portland player with 15 goals and 10 assists; the draft complaint says the South Portland player scored or assisted on roughly half of South Portland High School’s goals this season. ADF said the complaint would be filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and asked officials to investigate, change eligibility policies and remedy past violations. OutKick reported that the draft complaint names the Maine Department of Education, Maine Principals’ Association, South Portland School Department and Windham Raymond School District. The draft complaint quotes the Maine Principals’ Association policy as allowing a transgender student to compete according to either birth sex or gender identity, “but not both.”2 The draft complaint quotes the policy: “[N]o medical records or official documents shall be requested or required to establish a student’s gender identity.” The draft complaint states: “Despite all their hard work and discipline, Reagan and Morgan may be denied the thrill of victory because Maine lets males with inherent biological advantages compete on girls’ teams.”3 Those are the institutions that write the rules, not the girls who must play under them.
“[N]o medical records or official documents shall be requested or required to establish a student’s gender identity.”
The South Portland player shaped the scoreboard
The player is a freshman who identifies as female and joined South Portland’s girls’ varsity soccer team this fall. Wilson’s Fryeburg Academy team lost to South Portland on Aug. 29, and the complaint alleges that Clark’s Windham team tied South Portland 1-1 on Oct. 1 and that the tie lowered Windham’s ranking. On the same chart, the player scored three goals in South Portland’s 7-0 season-opening win over Portland and both goals in a 2-0 win over Gorham2. Why should a girls’ team’s standings turn on an eligibility rule that the girls did not write?
Maine’s policy requires no identity documents
The same policy bars schools from requesting medical records or official documents to establish gender identity2. A school may not ask for a document, yet the rule lets a claim of gender identity decide which girls’ team a student plays for. Who verifies that claim, and who answers to the girls on the other side of the scoreboard?
State law is Maine’s defense; girls seek federal review
Maine officials have defended participation based on gender identity under the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on that basis. That defense answers a civil-rights question, not the question of whether a girls’ team is sex-based. The complaint would target the Maine Department of Education, Maine Principals’ Association, South Portland School Department and Windham Raymond School District. The Justice Department sued Maine’s education department in April 2025 over transgender participation in girls’ sports. The Supreme Court’s June ruling in West Virginia v. B.P.J. concluded that Title IX permits eligibility rules based on biological sex2. The Justice Department has already sued Maine once, and now ADF plans to seek federal action on the girls’ behalf.
Maine voters can demand fair play
The planned filing is set for Nov. 2, one day before Republican Sen. Susan Collins faces Democratic former state Senate President Troy Jackson in Maine’s Senate election. Jackson voted in 2023 to reject proposed state restrictions on transgender athletes. In an April questionnaire he answered “No” when asked whether he supported a transgender sports ban and dismantling other Maine Human Rights Act protections2. Maine voters are being asked to elect the man who gave that answer, while two girls ask Washington for the fair game their state will not guarantee. Federal officials should investigate the complaint and require the eligibility changes and remedies ADF seeks. Maine’s families should ask every candidate whether a girls’ team should be sex-based, and whether the state should keep a rule that bars schools from asking for proof.
Sources
- @JackThompsonFOX on X, 2026-10-30: Two Maine high school girls plan to file a Title IX complaint Monday over a trans player on a rival girls’ soccer team. The girls say Maine’s policy denies them fair competition. https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/two-maine-high-school-girls-ask-feder, 2026-10-30
- Two Maine high school girls ask federal officials to intervene over transgender soccer player | OutKick
- Two Maine high school girls ask federal officials to intervene over transgender soccer player | 930 WFMD Free Talk
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