BIDDEFORD — Just days after Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins voted in favor of an amendment to ban transgender girls from girls’ sports team, one of her potential fall opponents said she’s on the other side of the issue.
Gov. Janet Mills says she opposes a fall ballot measure in Maine to prevent transgender girls from participating on girls’ sports teams.
Mills, a Democrat in her final year as governor, is running the June Democratic primary in hopes of challenging Collins in November.
“I would not support a ballot measure that demonizes children,” she said. “It demonizes and uses as a political ploy as the Republicans, the right-wing Republicans, have done with this kind of initiative.”
However, Collins, who is seeking a sixth term, posted on social media over the weekend her reasons for supporting an amendment that proposed a nationwide ban on transgender sports participation.
She said she’s held a “longstanding position that transgender athletes should not compete in girls’ and women’s athletics.”
“Policies to the contrary violate the original intent behind Title IX,” she wrote. “This is a matter of fairness, safety and giving girls and women the opportunity to excel in sports.”
Just last week, the Secretary of State’s Office announced that Protect Girls Sports in Maine gathered enough signatures to call for a vote on the issue in November.
The citizen initiative requires schools to designate all sports teams as male, female or co-ed. It defines sex as a person’s status at birth. It also requires public schools to maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms for girls and boys.
Across the country, laws in 27 states ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
Supporters say it’s a commonsense measure to ensure a level playing field for girls in high school sports.
Opponents of the ballot measure, which includes EqualityMaine, GLAD Law and the Maine Women’s Lobby, said they will work together as the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools to defeat the ballot measure.
They warned that the measure could led to harassment of LGBTQ+ students and vulnerable teens.
Mills echoed those sentiments on Monday.
“It targets some of the most vulnerable people in our society for what reason,” she said.
For Mills to take on Collins, she will have to defeat oyster farmer and combat veteran Graham Platner and former government official David Costello in the June 9 primary.
Platner pointed out Collins’ vote in a Sunday social media post, criticizing her for supporting the transgender sports ban and the SAVE Act, which would institute new regulations on voting.
“At a time when Mainers are dealing with rising gas prices and airport chaos, this is what she’s focused on — attacking kids and taking away your right to vote,” he wrote.
Mills said she raised five daughters, all of whom played sports.
“I saw, I always saw in the eyes of those kids’ new energy, new feeling about life, a new way to engage in teamwork, to make new friends,” she said. “That’s what sports does. It gives you a new perspective on life. It makes you a better human being.”