Copyright Bangor Daily News
The St. George Select Board will host a special meeting on Monday to address concerns about a transgender child participating on a youth sports team. Parents in the coastal Knox County town protested the town’s parks and recreation department allowing a transgender child on its girls basketball team for third and fourth graders at a Select Board meeting on Tuesday, leading local officials to schedule the emergency meeting. It’s the latest of many Maine communities to be roiled by a debate about the fairness of allowing transgender girls to play sports on teams aligning with their gender identity rather than their biological sex. But these national conversations have generally centered on high school and college athletes, not on children so young. Local parent Emily Chadwick said she presented a letter to the Select Board on Tuesday on behalf of “a couple parents” in the community. She suggested the town’s parks and recreation department take time to consider the impacts of allowing the student to play on the girls team. “We do not feel comfortable having our daughters participate under the current structure,” Chadwick said, quoting the letter. “This is not a decision made out of anger or disrespect for anyone, but out of love and protection for our child’s well-being.” While Chadwick said she understood the board would need time to consider how to respond to her concerns, others pushed for more immediate action. They included local grandparent Julie Miller, who emphasized that the recreational sports season would begin in days. “We’re looking for your help,” Miller told the board, asking that they separate the child from the girls team. “We can’t do this by ourselves.” With no corresponding item on the board’s agenda and limited time before the rec team’s first meeting, the board opted to set up a special meeting to respond to the letter. The Maine Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, a law that Chadwick acknowledged at the meeting was “not on [her] side.” That law has been the subject of debate here after President Donald Trump’s sharp exchange with Gov. Janet Mills in February, which led to federal funding cuts and a lawsuit from the Department of Justice. The Trump administration contests that allowing transgender girls on girls sports teams is a violation of Title IX, the landmark statute barring sex discrimination in education. His stance has been a justification for conservative groups organizing to get school boards to overturn their policies, which at least eight districts have done. St. George’s debate is different from those because it concerns a rec league run by the town instead of the school district. The Select Board appears poised to uphold Maine’s law. “The answer, if you don’t like the law of the state of Maine, is to lobby your legislators,” Board Chair Jane Conrad said at the meeting. “We are in charge of enforcing the law.” Select Board member Steve Cartwright said as of Friday, he had not heard back from the board’s legal counsel on the matter. He said the meeting was intended to hear parents’ concerns but expressed worry about traumatizing the young transgender child. “I hope people will be kind, civil and open minded at this meeting and that we can move forward as a community and value all its members, especially children,” he said. Speaking after the meeting, Miller, who says her granddaughter refuses to play on the girls team alongside a transgender child, added there was “no hate here” in the push to bar the child from the girls team. “Everybody can be who they want to be,” she said, adding that she is “hoping to keep our children happy and safe.” Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.
