Maine Sues USDA Over Withholding Funds Based on Gender Identity Disputes | Civil Eats
A logo showing the Civil Eats Food Policy Tracker, looking like a radar following food policy proposals and actions

Maine Sues USDA Over Withholding Funds Based on Gender Identity Disputes

The food and agriculture agency did not respond to questions about why it is engaging in battles over education and sports policies.

April 7, 2025 – Last week, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced she was pausing some USDA funding that flows to the Maine Department of Education based on violations of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.

Unlock the Full Story with a Civil Eats Membership

Expand your understanding of food systems as a Civil Eats member. Enjoy unlimited access to our groundbreaking reporting, engage with experts, and connect with a community of changemakers.

Join today

The news came after a series of executive orders signed by President Trump that define sex and gender so that schools that allow transgender female athletes to participate in women’s sports are in violation of Title IX. “In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX, which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins wrote in a letter. The National Collegiate Athletic Association estimates less than a tenth of 1 percent of college athletes are transgender.

In response, Maine today filed a lawsuit against the USDA. “Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,” Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement. “This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness. The President and his Cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”

In the statement, Frey said that the Child Nutrition Program of the Maine Department of Education was “unable to access several sources of federal funding, all of which are necessary to feed children and vulnerable adults.” That’s despite the fact that Rollins, in her letter, said school meals would not be affected but that funding for “certain administrative and technological functions in schools” would be withheld. “This is only the beginning,” she said, “though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law.”

banner showing a radar tracking screen and the words

The USDA did not respond to a question from Civil Eats asking for details on what other kind of funding the agency, which oversees food and agriculture, would withhold from a state education department.

This is not the only such dispute: Earlier this year, the agency initiated a Title IX compliance review of the University of Maine. In March, it announced the university system complied with the orders on keeping transgender athletes out of women’s sports and as a result “has been able to access all federal funds from USDA.” Then, at the end of March, Rollins sent a letter to California governor Gavin Newsom initiating a similar review of USDA funding that flows to California’s Department of Education, this time related to a state law that stops schools from requiring teachers to notify parents of their children’s gender identity.

In her letter, Rollins said she is assisting the U.S. Department of Education in investigating whether that law violates the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The USDA also did not respond to a question asking for details on what the agency’s role in that investigation would be, given the issue is not related to food or agriculture. In the meantime, California’s state superintendent said it would defend the state law, which he said protects the rights of LGBTQ+ students. (Link to this post.)

We’ll bring the news to you.

Get the weekly Civil Eats newsletter, delivered to your inbox.

You’d be a great Civil Eats member…

Civil Eats is a reader-supported, nonprofit newsroom, and we count on our members to keep producing our award-winning work.

Readers like you are the reason why we’re able to keep digging deep into stories you won’t find anywhere else. When you become a member, your support directly funds our journalism—from paying our reporters to keeping the internet on in our remote offices across the United States.

Your membership will also come with great benefits, including our award-winning newsletter, The Deep Dish, which is full of relevant and timely reporting, access to our members’ Slack community, and online salons as a way to engage with reporters, food and agriculture experts, and each other.

Civil Eats Supporting Membership $60/year $6/month
Give One, Get One Membership $100/year
Learn more about our membership program

Lisa Held is Civil Eats’ senior staff reporter and contributing editor. Read more >

Like the story?
Join the conversation.

More from

Food Policy Tracker

Featured

HARRINGTON, MAINE - AUGUST 08: Brandon Mott loads boxes of wild blueberries onto a truck as they harvest them from the plants in the fields of independent wild Maine blueberry grower Lynch Hill Farms on August 08, 2025 in Harrington, Maine. Independent wild Maine blueberry growers in the state are experiencing challenging times as their crops face several threats posed by climate change, from increased frequency of extreme weather events like droughts, floods, destructive frost, and warmer temperatures. Courtney Hammond, Lynch Hill Farms Manager, thinks his business is possibly in jeopardy as his crops are producing fewer marketable berries than normal. He, along with other independent growers, continues to try to adapt to the weather, but they could be reaching the point of no return, said Mr. Hammond. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A Key Agriculture Census Doesn’t Reflect Reality, Researcher Warns

In a recent paper, University of Iowa professor Silvia Secchi finds that the current Census of Agriculture is neither complete nor accurate, and could skew federal research and investment.

Popular

At Farm Aid, Top Agriculture Democrats Say Trump’s Policies Are Hurting Farmers

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) speaks on stage at Farm Aid 40 in Minnesota. (Photo credit: Lisa Held)

Rural Development Experts Warn Against USDA Cuts at Local Offices

The U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters, with the Civil Eats Food Policy Tracker logo superimposed. (Photo credit: Art Wagner, Getty Images)

House Republicans Block Tariff Challenges

The US Capitol building, where Congress meets. (Photo credit: Andrey Denisyuk, Getty Images)

Democrats Decry Corporate Consolidation ‘at Every Single Level’ of the Food System

the cereal aisle of the grocery store is full of ultraprocessed foods. (Photo credit: Katrina Wittkamp, Getty Images)