{"id":1529517,"date":"2025-04-10T02:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1529517"},"modified":"2025-04-10T02:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:10:00","slug":"maine-sues-usda-over-funds-frozen-for-allowing-male-athletes-in-female-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/maine-sues-usda-over-funds-frozen-for-allowing-male-athletes-in-female-sports\/1529517\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine Sues USDA Over Funds Frozen For Allowing Male Athletes In Female Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maine Sues USDA Over Funds Frozen For Allowing Male Athletes In Female Sports<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Maine is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the agency\u2019s decision to block federal funds because the state allows male athletes to compete in female sports,<\/strong> which the department says violates anti-discrimination rules.<\/p>\n

Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address in Augusta, Maine, on Jan. 30, 2024. Robert F. Bukaty\/AP Photo<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On April 2, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins sent a letter<\/a> to Maine Gov. Janet Mills saying she has paused federal funds for certain educational programs in the state, citing the violation of Title IX laws.<\/strong> Specifically, Maine was accused of failing to protect female student athletes from having to compete against or having to appear unclothed before males.<\/p>\n

On April 7, Maine filed a lawsuit<\/a> in U.S. District Court against the USDA and Rollins, accusing them of committing a \u201cblatantly unlawful action\u201d by freezing federal funds allocated to Maine \u201cto feed schoolchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe secretary took this action without following any of the statutory and regulatory requirements that must be complied with when terminating federal funds based on alleged violations of Title IX<\/strong>,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n

In her letter, Rollins said the funding pause \u201cdoes not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Title IX prohibits discrimination<\/a> on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving funds from the federal government.<\/p>\n

The complaint said that freezing funds would make it difficult for the state to compensate certain employees and pay for equipment associated with school meal programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout staff and equipment, there will be no way for CNP [Child Nutrition Program] staff to collect, approve, and process claims for reimbursement from schools and other facilities providing meals to children and vulnerable adults. There will thus be no way to get funds from the USDA to schools and other facilities, and children will not be fed,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

Maine argued that the Agriculture secretary\u2019s interpretation of Title IX is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral federal courts have held that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause require schools to permit transgender girls and women to play on girls\u2019 and women\u2019s teams<\/strong>,\u201d said the argument.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit further asked the court to vacate the secretary\u2019s action and issue a temporary restraining order as well as a permanent injunction prohibiting Rollins and the department from freezing federal funds for alleged Title IX violations.<\/p>\n

In the letter to the Maine governor, Rollins said that the \u201cdefiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Maine is to continue receiving USDA funds, it must demonstrate compliance with Title IX protection of female athletes, the letter said.<\/p>\n

USDA has also initiated a review of grants awarded to the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) by the Biden administration, many of which \u201cappear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investigating Maine<\/h2>\n

In February, the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Office for Civil Rights initiated an investigation<\/a> into the MDOE for potential violation of Title IX. In March, the office concluded that MDOE had breached the regulations.<\/p>\n

The investigation came after President Donald Trump signed a presidential action on Feb. 5 opposing \u201cmale competitive participation in women\u2019s sports\u201d and rescinding \u201call funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allowing men to compete against women at sporting events is \u201cdemeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,\u201d <\/strong>it said.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 21, Trump and Mills, a Democrat, clashed<\/a> over the issue at a White House event. After Trump accused Mills of allowing her state to violate an executive order prohibiting males from competing as females, Mills responded: \u201cWe\u2019re going to follow the law, sir. See you in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week announced<\/a> the formation of the Title IX Special Investigations Team amid a \u201cstaggering volume of Title IX complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team of DOJ and Education Department investigators will apply a \u201crapid resolution\u201d process to deal with the rising number of cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s establishment of the Title IX SIT will benefit women and girls across this nation who have been subjected to discrimination and indignity in their educational activities,\u201d said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all the entities that continue to allow men to compete in women\u2019s sports and use women\u2019s intimate facilities: There\u2019s a new sheriff in town. We will not allow you to get away with denying women\u2019s civil rights any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 04\/09\/2025 – 22:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/maine-sues-usda-over-funds-frozen-allowing-male-athletes-female-sports<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine Sues USDA Over Funds Frozen For Allowing Male Athletes In Female Sports Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Maine is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1529518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1529517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1529517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1529518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1529517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1529517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1529517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}