by WorldTribune Staff, February 20, 2025 Real World News
Despite President Donald Trump's executive order banning men from playing women's sports, a male from Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine was allowed to compete in the girls' competition in the Class B State Indoor Track Championships on Monday.
Katie Spencer, a biological male who identifies as a female, won the girls' pole vault competition in dominating fashion. The sophomore cleared 10'6" to take the state title. His nearest competitors, Freeport High School's Kessa Benner and Briella Boudreau, both cleared 10-foot. Spencer has a personal best of 11-foot this year which is one inch off the state indoor girls' record.
In the boys' competition, Spencer's 10-6 clearance would not have placed in the top 10.
Spencer's performance was also key to his girls' team winning the team state championship by one point.
"Thanks in part to Spencer’s win, Greely High School beat out Western Maine Conference rival Freeport for the overall championship title by just one point (72 to 71), a win that would have been reversed had Benner and Boudreau - both representing the Freeport team - been awarded their rightful win in the pole vault," Brittany Hughes of The Media Research Center noted.
The Maine Principals’ Association announced three days prior to Monday's state meet that it would continue allowing males who identify as transgender to take women’s sports titles despite the White House’s policies against it, WMTV8 reported.
The Maine Wire interviewed a Scarborough High School coach, Allen Cornwall, who recused himself from judging an earlier pole-vault competition because he objects to the Principals' Association continuing to allow “Katie” to compete against girls despite Trump’s executive action at the federal level. Trump's order states that any violation would result in a loss of federal funding.
“They’re ['Katie'] going to be the conference champion, quote unquote girls Conference champion. They’ll be the quote unquote girls state champion for the class B athlete. And these girls that have been competing for years, working towards this, are just being sidelined, and it’s really disgusting,” said Cornwall.
“The decision by the Maine Principals’ Association to continue allowing male athletes to compete against female athletes in school athletic competitions is outrageous,” Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby, a Republican, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Not only does their decision violate President Trump’s February 5 Executive Order but it jeopardizes the safety and privacy of female athletes, all while allowing male athletes to take medals, trophies, and podium spots away from women, effectively erasing them.”
“I urge the Trump administration to move swiftly to ensure that female athletes in Maine can once again compete on a level playing field, preserving the integrity of women’s sports,” Libby said.
The American Parents’ Coalition told the Daily Caller News Foundation: “Parents across Maine—and the country—are fed up with being ignored while their daughters are forced to compete against biological males. The Maine Principals’ Association’s decision isn’t just unfair; it’s an affront to every parent who expects their child to have a level playing field and is at odds with President Trump’s Executive Order protecting girls’ sports.”
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