Several Maine school districts are sticking with new transgender student policies despite a lawsuit that alleges they violate state law and foster hostile environments in schools.

At a school board meeting Tuesday night, officials at Regional School Unit 24 in Hancock County voted to keep the district’s recently adopted policy barring transgender students from using bathrooms or playing for sports teams that align with their chosen gender.

The RSU 73 school board in Livermore Falls took a similar vote last week to keep its policy.

RSU 24 Superintendent Michael Eastman did not return a request for comment Wednesday but issued a statement saying the decision was made “following an executive session to consult with legal counsel.”

“We recognize that this issue is deeply important to many and continues to evoke strong feelings within our district, our communities and across the state,” Eastman wrote. “As we move ahead with this work, we remain committed to listening, learning and communicating with care.”

School board officials for the district that oversees schools in Sullivan, Eastbrook, Gouldsboro, Prospect Harbor and Steuben also did not make the meeting’s minutes or a recording of the proceedings immediately available online. Parents’ Rights in Education Maine, a conservative activist group, highlighted the vote in a social media post Tuesday night, as did House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, who represents those towns.

To date, six Maine school districts have adopted similar policies following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February that defined gender as one’s “biological sex” and threatened to revoke federal funding from schools allowing transgender students to play sports or use locker rooms in line with their gender identity.

Those districts are being sued by the Maine Human Rights Commission, which alleges the policies discriminate against transgender students and violate state law specifically protecting students’ right to participate in classes and extracurriculars “without discrimination because of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The lawsuit also claims the policies encourage harassment of “students participating in girls’ sports who do not appear to the adults to be biological females.” The lawsuit notes one email in which a community member “expressed their desire that ‘someone make an example out of’ a ‘piece of s— tranny’ in the third grade.”

The others districts named in the suit are Maine School Administration District 70 in Hodgdon, MSAD 52 in Turner, the Baileyville School District and the Richmond School Department.

It remained unclear Wednesday whether those districts will revert their policies or stick to their guns, and representatives from those communities did not respond to inquiries Wednesday.

The Trump administration’s executive order and the districts’ policies hinge on an interpretation of Title IX that argues allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports is a form of discrimination because it deprives women and girls of fair athletic opportunities. That interpretation has yet to be tested in court.

When the issue was raised by RSU 24’s school board at an October meeting, dozens of community members spoke about how the potential policy change and vitriolic discussion around it had affected their students. The board ultimately adopted the policy in a contentious 5-4 vote.

Votes in other districts were not as close, with the exception of Richmond, which adopted its policy in a 3-2 vote in October.

RSU 24 and several other districts had retained Portland-based law firm Drummond Woodsum, which has represented hundreds of Maine school districts for years. But after the firm advised the district to follow state law, district officials voted Tuesday to engage with two conservative firms, Steve Smith Trial Lawyers in Augusta and Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP, based in Indiana.

Transgender students’ participation in youth athletics has become a contentious topic across the country, but especially in Maine. Gov. Janet Mills clashed with Trump over the topic at the White House in February, telling the president: “see you in court.” Shortly afterward, the Department of Justice announced a lawsuit against Maine over the state’s human rights law.

Conservatives in the state have been collecting signatures to put a referendum on the 2026 ballot that could bar transgender students from school sports and private spaces that align with their gender identities. The Maine Principals’ Association has previously said there are two transgender students playing sports in Maine.