2nd Maine School District Repeals Pro-Trans Policy After Nearly Unanimous Board Vote

A second Maine school district has voted to revoke its pro-transgender policies in defiance of Democrat Gov. Janet Mills.

The state’s Regional School Unit (RSU) 24 school board voted on Tuesday to join the Hodgdon School Board in scrapping its transgender policies, which included allowing students to use bathrooms and facilities based on a created “gender identity” rather than biological reality, the Maine Wire reported.

“In a 7-1 vote RSU 24 voted to rescind its previous transgender policy (pictured here) which also included recognizing the student’s identity even in defiance of the parent’s wishes. I applaud and support the Board’s courage and action on this matter,” Maine Republican House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham posted to Facebook.

The district includes six schools and encompasses the towns of Eastbrook, Franklin, Gouldsboro, Mariaville, Steuben, Sorrento, Sullivan, Waltham, and Winter Harbor.

The district’s former policy titled “Transgender and Gender Expansive Students” instructed schools to allow students to use bathrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms that align with their self-proclaimed “gender identity” instead of biological sex.

The old policy additionally instructed schools to identify students by their preferred “gender identity” — even at the objections of parents — and told schools to avoid gender-based activities and practices as possible, according to the report.

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“In the event that a student and their parent or legal guardian do not agree with regard to the student’s gender identity or gender expression, the school shall abide by the wishes of the student with regard to their gender identity and gender expression while at school,” the policy reportedly reads. 

The school board ultimately repealed the entire policy, “reaffirming parental rights and protecting girls from being forced to change in front of biological males,” the report continues. The decision also brings the district into alignment with President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order mandating that intimate facilities be used according to sex rather than “gender identity.” 

The district’s change does not necessarily pertain to trans-identifying males playing on girls’ sports teams, as the school board left that decision up to the Maine Principals Association (MPA), which oversees high school sports, according to the report. Gov. Mills and the MPA have openly defied the Trump administration’s order protecting girls’ sports and spaces, leading to investigations and an ongoing funding battle.