Two Maine Girls Say Transgender Opponents Cost Them Fair Competition as Their Lawyers File a Title IX Complaint
Reagan Wilson and Morgan Clark spoke in Augusta on Monday. Alliance Defending Freedom says it filed with the Education Department. Maine officials defend their policy under state law, and the complaint's allegations have not been ruled on.
Two Maine high school juniors described what they called "crushing disappointment" at competing against transgender athletes, at a news conference Monday at the Maine State House in Augusta, OutKick reports.
The athletes. Reagan Wilson of Fryeburg Academy and Morgan Clark, a varsity soccer captain at Windham High School, spoke alongside advocates seeking a statewide vote on sex-based eligibility rules. Wilson said she faced a transgender competitor in cross-country races and, most recently, on an all-girls soccer team: "This is unacceptable and has deprived me and so many other girls of equal opportunity to compete and win." Clark said: "Last year, this sort of thing was something I only saw online, but now it's something that I'm seeing in my own field."
The complaint. Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Tavia Bruxellas McAlister said the group would file a Title IX complaint that day with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. A draft shared with OutKick asks for an investigation of the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association, the South Portland School Department and the Windham Raymond School District. It identifies a transgender player on South Portland's team and credits the player with 15 goals and 10 assists through the Oct. 27 playoff game. Windham tied South Portland 1-1 on Oct. 1; the Portland Press Herald reported South Portland finished last season 3-9-2. Both teams lost in regional semifinals Friday. The draft says both girls plan to play again next year.
The ballot push. The Protect Girls Sports in Maine committee said it was submitting 4,836 more signatures toward the 2027 ballot, after its first petition fell 532 valid signatures short of this year's ballot. The signatures still need state validation. The proposal would set eligibility and access to bathrooms and locker rooms by the sex on a student's original birth certificate and let students sue over violations. We covered the plan for this event in an earlier piece.
The policy fight. The Education Department found Maine out of compliance with Title IX in March 2025, and the Justice Department sued the state's education department the next month. Maine officials and the principals' association cite the Maine Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on gender identity. The association's policy lets transgender students compete by either birth sex or gender identity, but not both. OutKick notes the Supreme Court upheld state restrictions in June but left open whether schools may allow transgender athletes on girls' teams, the question at issue in Maine.
What we could not check. The goals and assists, and the girls' accounts, come from the draft complaint and the athletes' statements. We have not seen the filing as submitted, and the Maine agencies' responses to this complaint are not in the report. The draft's subject is a student, and we are not naming the player.