Maine teens battling state Democrats on girls' sports bill after enduring trans athlete chaos in high school

Maine teens Carrlyn Buck, Hailey Himes, Cassidy Carlisle and Lucy Cheney recount their chaotic high school sports experience in a state that aggressively protects trans athletes in girls' sports.

A four-woman squad of Presque Isle High School student athletes helped lead a march on Maine's state Capitol building in Augusta last week. 

They went to spar with state legislature Democrats over three bills that would ban biological males from girls' sports – an issue that has sent their state and sports seasons spiraling into chaos in 2025. 

For three of them, it was their first political rally, and they were taking center stage. They had to wade through pro-transgender counter-protesters outside the building, and dismissive liberal lawmakers inside it. 

"It was a little intimidating knowing they don't have the same beliefs as us," Hailey Himes, a first-time protester, told Fox News Digital. 

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Maine girls' track and field athlete Hailey Himes (Courtesy of Hailey Himes)

But Himes said she realized she had to join the fight to protect girls' sports from trans athletes when her English teacher assigned her an essay on the subject on March 12. 

Just one month before that, Himes and other female athletes witnessed the pole vault jump that plunged their state into a national conflict, when a trans athlete won first place in girls' pole vault for Greely High School in early February. 

"I watched this male pole vaulter stand on the podium and we were all just like looking we were like ‘We’re pretty sure that's not a girl. There's no way that's a girl,'" Himes said. "It was really discouraging, especially for the girls on the podium not in first place. So that motivated me to fight