The Democrat-led state of Maine has been openly defiant against President Donald Trump's efforts to end the objective unfairness of biological males who identify as transgender women competing with and against biological females in athletic competitions at the middle and high school levels.

The Trump administration just imposed consequences on Maine for its blatant defiance via the U.S. Department of Agriculture imposing a freeze on and review of certain federal funds for the state, Fox News reported.

That freeze will be lifted and funding restored if Maine complies with federal laws requiring equal and fair opportunities for young women and girls to compete in sports, but continued defiance by the state could result in additional sanctions.

Trump's executive order

On Feb. 5, President Trump issued an executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" that cited Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972's requirement that educational institutions can't deny women and girls an equal and fair opportunity to participate in athletics if those institutions receive federal funds of any sort.

"Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy," Trump's order stated. "It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth."

Progressive Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills publicly disagreed with the president's order, however, and her state has continued to allow biological males who identify as transgender women and girls to compete against actual biological women and girls in middle and high school sports, which has now prompted that Trump administration to make good on the president's threat to cut federal funding to the state.

Letter to the governor

In a Wednesday letter to Gov. Mills from USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, the secretary wrote, "You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated."

"Your defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming," Rollins continued. "Today, I am freezing Maine's federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools. This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law."

"In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX's protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males," the secretary said, and later added, "USDA, alongside other federal agencies, will continue to pause and, where appropriate, terminate categories of education programming in Maine if these Title IX violations are not resolved to the satisfaction of the Federal Government."

The letter from Sec. Rollins to Gov. Mills further noted that the USDA is now conducting a thorough review of all "research and education-related funding in Maine" to ensure compliance with not just Title IX but also the requirements of other applicable federal laws, along with all grants awarded to the state's Education Department by the prior Biden administration.

Per the letter and a USDA press release, it was stressed that the funding freeze "does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to citizens; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow."

Consequences for defiance

Fox News reported that GOP Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby was who called attention to the fact that Maine was still allowing transgender student athletes to compete with and against women and girls after President Trump's executive order had been issued.

"Governor Janet Mills and Maine Democrats have chosen to dig their heels in and embrace radical left-wing ideology over the safety and rights of Maine women and girls," Libby told the outlet. "Despite repeated warnings from President Trump, Maine Democrats continued to defy federal law, forcing Maine girls to unfairly compete against biological males."

"As a result, Maine's Democrat majority has poised Maine students to lose hundreds of millions in federal funding, starting with our USDA funding, instead of championing Maine girls by adhering to federal law," the state lawmaker added. "I continue to stand firmly with Maine girls and President Trump in the pursuit of sanity and fairness. I implore Maine Democrats to abandon this incredibly harmful and radical gender ideology for the sake of our students."