Maine 'mama bear' facing threats as parents battle to keep 8-year-old boy off girls' basketball team

A parent successful a coastal Maine enclave has banded unneurotic with different section parents successful protestation of an 8-year-old lad who joined a recreational girls' hoops team, causing an uproar successful the erstwhile quiescent community.

"Initially, we were concerned," Katy Miller, whose girl played connected the hoops team, told Fox News Digital. "We talked to our daughters [and] benignant of got a work from them connected however they felt. And we were each successful statement that we were conscionable not connected committee with this."

At a Nov. 10 Town of St. George Select Board meeting, Miller and different parents made their lawsuit to halt the biologic boy, who identifies arsenic a girl, from competing with the girls. The games are played successful a section schoolhouse gym, making the concern a municipality matter.

Colin Hurd, an lawyer from the Maine Human Rights Commission, an autarkic authorities bureau that enforces the Maine Human Rights Act, said that nether Maine law, it is amerciable for a municipality to contradict services — successful this lawsuit recreational hoops — to anyone based connected sex identity. It is besides amerciable successful Maine to forestall anyone from utilizing a nationalist restroom oregon locker country that "most intimately aligns with their sex identity."

A girls precocious schoolhouse hoops squad plays a crippled successful a gym. (monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON SWIMMER TAKES ON STATE GOVERNMENT, SAYS GIRLS SHOULDN'T BE PRESSURED TO UNDRESS AROUND BOYS

But determination are immoderate exceptions.

"Nevertheless, the committee does admit that determination whitethorn beryllium occasions wherever the information of a transgender idiosyncratic successful diversion activities could airs a genuine hazard of wellness and safety, to either the transgender idiosyncratic oregon to others," Hurd said.

Miller said the girls don't consciousness safe.

TRACKING THE TRANS ATHLETE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS CONTROVERSIES SHAKING THE NATION OVER THE LAST YEAR

"I cognize our girls mentioned the biggest happening that they were disquieted astir was changing successful a locker room," she said. "There's been a batch of speech astir however successful the rec[reation] department, the girls don't usage the locker rooms. Well, if they don't usage the locker rooms, they usage the bathrooms."

"Girls privation to consciousness safe. They privation to person harmless spaces. They don't privation to person to interest astir these things, and that was astir apt the fig 1 interest for these small girls," Miller continued. "They did not privation to alteration successful beforehand of a biologic boy, and I don't blasted them."

At the Nov. 10 meeting, townspeople connected some sides of the contented spoke to the committee successful idiosyncratic and via Zoom. Some supporters of the lad argued that helium did not person a carnal oregon biologic vantage astatine his young age. Some opponents, meanwhile, argued that it was incorrect to acceptable a precedent of boys playing girls' sports, and that allowing boys to bash truthful is simply a slap successful the look to girls.

CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOLS AT ODDS AFTER ALLEGED TRANS ATHLETE DISPLACES FEMALE IN CROSS-COUNTRY TOP 10

Ultimately, the prime committee yet voted 3-2 successful favour of allowing the lad to play connected the girls' team.

The opposing parents were forced to make a backstage league for their daughters, which involves much traveling to play games and much out-of-pocket expenses for instrumentality and signifier space. While they tin inactive usage their schoolhouse gym sometimes, Miller said the autarkic girls’ hoops squad is astatine the bottommost of the precedence database successful presumption of scheduling.   

The coastal Maine enclave is dealing with an uproar implicit an 8-year-old lad playing connected a girls hoops team. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"It has taken a toll," said Miller. "I person received a batch of pushback, but for me, it's much important each time agelong to support these girls, particularly my daughter. And you know, it's benignant of the mama carnivore instinct, right? When, you know, radical travel knocking, and they privation to, you know, bash things similar this, you basal your ground, and that's what we're doing. We're lasting our ground, nary substance the pushback."

MICHIGAN HS REACHES STATE 'ELITE EIGHT' WITH HELP FROM TRANS ATHLETE

Miller told Fox News Digital that the "pushback" has gone beyond civilian discourse.

"There has been a batch of threatening behaviour that has gone on, to the constituent of calling police," she said. "There's been a constabulary beingness astatine the meetings. It's been precise tense, very, precise tense. That's the hard portion arsenic parents is we're conscionable lasting up for our girls. We're being told unspeakable things each crossed societal media."

Miller said she's been told connected societal media that she shouldn't beryllium a mother, and that she would beryllium amended disconnected dead.

On Wednesday night, the parents volition plead their lawsuit successful beforehand of the schoolhouse committee successful St. George.

Miller expressed gratitude to aggregate involvement groups, politicians and elected officials who person advocated connected behalf of the parents. One of those elected officials is Maine Republican State Rep. Laurel Libby.

"The immense bulk of Mainers don't enactment biologic males successful girls sports," Libby told Fox News Digital. "You know, I deliberation we spot earthy polling that astir folks enactment biologic reality."

MAINE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING SEES WOMEN UNDRESS IN PROTEST OF TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS SPORTS, A GROWING TREND

People connected some sides of the contented spoke to the St. George committee astir the assemblage controversy. (Jorge Moro/Getty Images)

"It's not just for boys to enactment successful a girls' crippled and instrumentality opportunities, frankly, particularly arsenic they get to the higher levels that should beryllium acceptable speech for girls," she continued.

Libby said that Mainers, and astir 80% of the nationalist astatine large, bash not enactment boys playing girls' sports, but that a tiny percent of extremist left-wingers proceed to propulsion the issue.

"As chaotic arsenic that stance is, it had much enactment backmost 8 oregon truthful years ago," she said. "And present American radical and Maine radical person swung the different absorption and said, ‘absolutely not, boys should not beryllium successful girls sports and spaces.’

"And yet the precise extremist near — not each Democrats, but the precise extremist near — is doubling down, and is perfectly staunchly supporting this struggle with biologic world to importune that boys and men should beryllium successful girls and women spaces. And it is simply a brainsick elevation to dice on."

Steve Cartright, a subordinate of the municipality prime committee committee, told Fox News Digital that helium voted successful favour of the biologic lad to play connected the girls' squad owed to Maine law. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

"I americium atrocious that section parents are not much tolerant of children who place with a sex antithetic from their anatomy astatine birth," helium said of his chap townspeople. "I deliberation we request to enactment a school, assemblage and nine that includes each children, and doesn't exclude oregon punish them for their sex identity."

He added that helium thinks adults "fear change" and past launched into a tirade against President Donald Trump.

"What scares maine is hatred code from President Trump and his allies, fanning the flames of prejudice and persecution of radical whe [sic] are not ‘white’ oregon ‘straight.’ It's un-American and morally depraved," helium said. 

Cartwright says he's "skeptical" of Miller's assertion that she has received threats. 

The Maine Human Rights Commission did not instrumentality a petition for comment.