(LifeSiteNews) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a civil lawsuit against Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills for failing to comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February that bans men from competing in men’s sports.
Bondi held a press conference earlier today with female sports activist Riley Gaines standing behind her. Gaines, a former All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky, has become the most recognizable face in the fight to keep girls’ sports free from male athletes.
Bondi held nothing back in her comments, which focused on how Mills is violating Title IX.
“These boys are allowed to go in women’s dressing rooms and get fully naked and change — biological boys — in front of these young women!” she exclaimed. “The Department of Justice will not sit by when women are discriminated against in sports.”
Today the Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education for failing to protect women in women’s sports.
It’s simple: when women are discriminated against, this DOJ will take action. pic.twitter.com/NGwWMnvaI4
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) April 16, 2025
On February 6, Trump signed an executive order at the White House and declared “the war on women’s sports is over.” Since then, many states and sports associations have fallen in line, including the NCAA, which changed it previous pro-LGBT policy to now prohibit men from playing against females. In March, World Athletics Council president Sebastian Coe likewise announced a “non-invasive” test for athletes before they participate in women’s sports to ensure they are not men.
Maine was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when Trump told Mills at a White House event, “you better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.” His Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights subsequently opened an investigation into Maine’s compliance with the administration’s take on Title IX. Trump also directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to freeze funding to the state.
A defiant Mills issued a statement Wednesday afternoon. In it, she alleged that “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.”
Trump highlighted the dangers of males competing against girls during his joint speech to Congress earlier this year. In his remarks, he highlighted the story of Payton McNabb, a former high school volleyball player who was severely injured when a male opponent sent a high-velocity ball into her face during her junior year. McNabb suffered a concussion, brain bleed, and partial paralysis of her face as a result of the play.
