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‘This is about sports. This is also about these young women’s personal safety,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi says

The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Maine of failing to protect young women and girls by allowing male athletes to compete with them in a lawsuit announced Wednesday.

The Maine Department of Education is “discriminating against women” in violation of Title IX, Attorney General Pam Bondi (pictured) said at a news conference.

“The Department of Justice will not sit by when women are discriminated against in sports. This is about sports. This is also about these young women’s personal safety,” Bondi said.

The department filed the lawsuit after “exhaust[ing] every other remedy,” including stripping federal grants, in an effort to compel Maine to comply, Bondi said.

The department also is monitoring Title IX compliance in Minnesota and California, and their leaders “should be on notice,” the attorney general said.

The Trump administration and Maine Democrat Gov. Janet Mills have been sparring over the issue for months, CBS News reports:

The move marks an escalation between the Trump administration and Maine over the issue. President Trump signed an executive order in February to ban transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity, mandating that Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, be interpreted as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports. President Trump said states not in compliance would jeopardize any federal funding they receive.

Then, in a tense moment between Mr. Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, later in February, the president threatened that her state wouldn’t get federal funding if it didn’t comply with the executive order barring transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams. Mills replied, “See you in court.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who appeared alongside Bondi on Wednesday, said “I hope Gov. Mills will recognize that her political feud with the president will deprive the students in her state of much more than the right to fair sporting events.”

Responding in a statement Wednesday, Gov. Mills vowed to “vigorously” fight the lawsuit.

“As I have said previously, this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation,” Mills said.

While emphasizing her support for women’s rights, Mills said she believes the lawsuit is really about imposing federal power on states like Maine.

“This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed, it is about states rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law,” the governor said.

However, women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines defended the Trump administration’s actions.

“That is who Governor Mills is fighting, not Donald Trump, it is those little girls and I believe that is sick,” Gaines said at the department’s news conference.

.@Riley_Gaines_ calls out Governor Mills for REFUSING to protect young female athletes:

“That is who Governor Mills is fighting, not Donald Trump, it is those little girls and I believe that is sick.” pic.twitter.com/l9WRK9oqmr

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 16, 2025

Gaines became a national spokeswoman for women’s sports in college after competing against former University of Pennsylvania swimmer William “Lia” Thomas, a male who identifies as a transgender female.

MORE: U. Maine agrees to keep men out of women’s sports after Trump admin pauses funding

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Attorney General Pam Bondi announces a lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education alleging discrimination against women. Fox News

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