<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Before President Trump <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/trump-maine-governor-transgender-athletes.html" title="">chastised</a> Gov. Janet Mills of Maine at the White House last month, and before his administration started investigating Maine’s education system, the seeds of their conflict over transgender athletes had been planted by a state legislator.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Representative Laurel Libby, a Republican from Auburn, Maine, had posted on Facebook about a transgender athlete who won a high school pole-vaulting competition. Her critical post, which named and included photos of the student athlete, went viral.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">About a month later, the fallout has included funding cuts at the University of Maine and <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/trump-maine-title-ix-transgender-athletes.html" title="">a finding by the Trump administration that the state had violated federal law</a> by allowing transgender athletes to compete on two high school teams. The Democratic-controlled Legislature has censured Ms. Libby. And people on both sides of the issue have experienced a complex surge of emotions about Maine suddenly landing in the cross hairs of Mr. Trump.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“We’re not often in the center of controversy here, and it’s a little bit of a shock that it’s happened so quickly,” said Keegan Tripp, a junior at the University of Maine and the president of its student body. “We have students afraid for themselves, for their friends — their academics, research, financial situations — and all of this fear is so brand-new.”</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">When the Trump administration issued <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-trans-athletes-executive-order.html" title="">an executive order on Feb. 5</a> barring transgender women from women’s sports, Ms. Libby, a 43-year-old mother of five, saw an opportunity to amplify her own position on the matter.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="ImageBlock-3"><div data-testid="imageblock-wrapper"><figure aria-label="media" class="img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-figure"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-testid="lazy-image"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="height:257.77777777777777px"></div></div></div><figcaption class="css-gbc9ki ewdxa0s0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-caption"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">Representative Laurel Libby, a Republican from Auburn, Maine, posted on Facebook about a transgender athlete who had won a high school pole-vaulting competition.</span><span class="css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press</span></span></span></figcaption></figure></div></div><div data-testid="Optimistic-4"><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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