Document dump shows anti-LGBTQ+ groups helped craft Maine school district’s anti-trans policies

An LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Maine has obtained hundreds of documents showing a school district’s anti-transgender policies were shaped by right-wing activists.

24 Allies, a citizens group in the Pine Tree State, made a sweeping public information request of Regional School Unit 24, then obtained 900 pages of internal documents between school district officials and two right-wing political groups. Those included Maine First, a conservative political organization founded by anti-trans former Republican state lawmaker Larry Lockman, and the Maine Policy Institute, a so-called parental rights organization.

After securing the documentation, 24 Allies shared the records with the Bangor Daily News.

Related: Maine judge upholds block of anti-trans initiative on November ballot

Maine First helped elect Carla Jung to the school board in March 2025, promoting her as a “MAGA Mom” and pushing an explicitly anti-trans message of “protecting children from radical transgender ideology and indoctrination.” Shortly afterward, the school district fired its longtime general counsel and instead hired Jack Baldacci Jr., the current legal counsel for Maine First, into that role instead.

The internal communications suggest Baldacci played a key role in shaping policies, including restrictions on transgender girls participating in girls’ sports. That policy notably passed only narrowly based on a weighting system that gives Jung’s vote more influence than members from less populated areas of the school district.

Related: Trump vs. Maine: State refuses anti-trans sports policies as federal agencies push to cut funding

The newly released documents show Jung and fellow board member Mary Cowperthwaite communicated with the Maine Policy Institute on enforcement measures for the policy, including checking birth certificates to require athletes prove their gender assigned at birth.

The board also voted to rescind a prior policy allowing transgender students to use restroom facilities based on their gender identity. The policies were crafted, based on communications, with the outside right-wing groups or individuals working both within the district and the political organizations.

Related: Maine signs trans and abortion sanctuary bill into law, despite violent threats

“The fact that they are targeting the most vulnerable community across our state needs to stop because they’re going up against a wall of people that may be hidden right now, in their peaceful places and little farms, but they’re going to come out and they’re going to start rallying,” 24 Allies board member Tammy Taylor told the Maine news outlet.

The school district has taken several anti-trans positions amid a push by conservative groups in the state to turn back trans rights involving bathroom and sports access. Right-wing groups attempted to put those up as statewide ballot initiatives but failed to legally obtain enough qualified signatures. That initiative was pushed by Protect Girls Sports in Maine, a campaign supported heavily by Maine First, according to CentralMaine.com. In June, a Maine judge upheld a decision to block the referendum from the November ballot.