Group renews petition effort to put transgender sports on next year’s ballot

The group aiming to limit what sports and school facilities transgender students can access is renewing its signature collection effort, aiming to get a referendum question on next year’s ballot.

The initiative was first approved by the Maine Secretary of State’s Office to appear on the November ballot. But following a legal challenge questioning the validity of hundreds of signatures collected by the group, Protect Girls’ Sports, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ultimately determined that the initiative did not clear the threshold.

The group appealed to federal court, but announced Monday that the final ruling would not be released in time for the midterms. Instead, Protect Girls’ Sports is turning its attention to gathering 5,000 more signatures, although it needs only about 532 more to qualify. 

“Now is your chance to make sure Maine girls can access bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports free of males,” said the announcement calling for volunteers.

Protect Girls’ Sports did not respond to requests for comment on the renewed signature collection effort.

The citizen initiative titled “An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex” had been largely funded by Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein. If passed, it would mandate schools to restrict trans students from playing on sports teams, using bathrooms or locker rooms aligning with their gender identity. 

Following national scrutiny by President Donald Trump’s administration and several failed legislative attempts at passing similar bills, the referendum sought to ask voters whether to change the Maine Human Rights Act, which protects against discrimination based on gender identity.

However, the initiative was not questioned because of the restrictions it aimed to pass. After Bellows announced in March that Protect Girls’ Sports had collected enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot, three Maine voters filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of those signatures. 

The court remanded the matter back to the secretary’s office, which held a hearing where both sides presented evidence of the signature collectors’ practices, many of whom were paid workers from out of state.

Through the hearing, a pattern of negligence emerged. Bellows announced in May that the ballot initiative would no longer qualify— a determination that in June was backed up by a Cumberland County Superior Court judge. 

Protect Girls’ Sports appealed that decision to Maine’s highest court, which after hearing oral arguments on July 1 came to the same conclusion.