Poll: New Englanders support banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports 

New England is one of the most liberal regions in America, but its residents have embraced at least one conservative position: keeping males out of female sports.

Residents of its six states all overwhelmingly oppose male transgender-identifying athletes competing in girls’ sports, according to a poll released by the University of New Hampshire last week. 

The survey found staunch opposition to the practice in Connecticut (73% oppose, 20% support), New Hampshire (71% oppose, 21% support), Rhode Island (66% oppose, 27% support), Maine (64% oppose, 29% support), Massachusetts (63% oppose, 26% support) and Vermont (57% oppose, 35% support). 

The region has gone almost completely blue over the last two decades. Currently, Maine Sen. Susan Collins is the lone Republican in Congress from any of the six states. 

Every New England state except New Hampshire allows males who identify as transgender to compete in girls’ sports, and the region has seen a disproportionate number of instances of it happening compared to the rest of the country. 

Additionally, all states except Rhode Island have had known examples of trans athletes dominating the female competition. 

Maine has had two trans athletes win girls’ track state championships in the past year, prompting a federal investigation. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year directing federal agencies to withhold funding from states that let males compete in girls’ sports, leading to some funding being paused for the University of Maine. However, the Democrat-controlled state refuses to change its policies, which may result in loss of more federal funding and legal battles in the coming weeks. 

New Hampshire had a transgender track athlete win two state championships last year, prompting the state’s Republican trifecta (House, Senate and governor) to ban the practice. A Franklin Pierce college student also won an NCAA Division II women’s outdoor track national championship in 2019; it was the first known instance of a transgender-identifying athlete winning an NCAA national title. 

Connecticut had some of the first transgender athletes who received national attention. A pair of track athletes won multiple state championships from 2017 to 2020, raising awareness of the issue. Then, last year, another transgender track athlete won a state championship and an all-New England championship. 

In the past two years, Massachusetts has had males win state championships in girls’ track and girls’ basketball. However, the Bay State also made headlines last year after a male player with facial hair injured three girls in one half of a girls’ basketball game, prompting the other team to forfeit. 

Massachusetts also lets boys who identify as boys compete in girls’ sports when no equivalent school team exists, due to a court interpretation of the state’s Equal Rights Amendment. Thanks to this ruling, boys have won several field hockey and girls’ gymnastics state championships. 

Meanwhile, Vermont had a girls’ basketball team with transgender center over six feet tall compete in a state title game last year. A Christian school refused to play the team in 2023 and was kicked out of the Vermont Principals’ Association because of its decision.