A slate of Republican-led bills aimed at undoing Maine’s policies allowing transgender girls to play in sports aligned with their gender identity are heading for votes after the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee effectively deadlocked on three of them late Tuesday.

The key player was first-term Rep. Dani O’Halloran, D-Brewer, who voted with Republicans on two bills that would bar schools that receive state funding from allowing transgender girls to play alongside girls. She also endorsed a version of a similar bill from Rep. Liz Caruso, R-Caratunk, that would take out language allowing people to sue schools for violations.

Democrats who control Augusta otherwise united on the issue that has led to Gov. Janet Mills’ fight with President Donald Trump over Maine’s federal funding. These Republican-led bills still have an uphill path to passage in the Legislature, but O’Halloran’s stance has injected uncertainty around how the votes will land in the closely divided House.

Mills has defended Maine’s laws on the subject but has not said how she feels about changing the policies, saying in March that it was “worthy of a debate.” A University of New Hampshire poll of Maine that month found two-thirds of Mainers think transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

It’s no surprise that O’Halloran was the one to break with her party. She was one of two Democrats to vote with Republicans in April against enshrining existing civil rights protections — including those for gender identity — in the Maine Constitution.

She was one of the most vocal members during Tuesday’s committee session, questioning Mary Bonauto, a prominent LGBTQ+ rights lawyer from Portland, about whether transgender participation in girls sports erodes opportunities for those who were born girls. The lawmaker returned to that point before the committee started taking votes.

“You have not only transgender girls on girls teams, you have girls on girls teams, and then there are some transgender boys that are playing on girls teams,” she said. “So that leaves me sitting here wondering, where does that leave girls?”

Other Democrats stuck together in voting against the bills. Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, worried about the real-world effects of Caruso’s bill that would bar transgender girls from girls sports but allow schools to create co-ed teams to accommodate those students.

“If the school does not have the resources or can’t put a regional team together, then we have de facto just discriminated against those students because we have not given them choice — choices,” she said.

Rep. Rachel Henderson of Rumford, summed up the Republican perspective on the committee, saying her faith teaches her to love everyone but that it is “hard science” that there are only two biological sexes. (The American Medical Association recognizes a “medical spectrum” of gender.)

“With that love has to come a truth, and this is the truth I’m standing on,” she said. “But please know that my desire is to always wrap that truth in love.”

Larry Mahoney has covered legendary Maine sports figures for more than 50 years at the Bangor Daily News. And now he is set to join those legends in the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Mahoney is one of 10 honorees being inducted into the hall this year, the organization announced on Monday. He was also inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame last year and has been named Maine sports writer of the year six times.

He and the other inductees, will officially become Maine Sports Hall of Fame members during a Sept. 21 ceremony in Bangor.

Former BDN sports editor and writer Pete Warner worked with the veteran reporter for years, and highlighted the humanity and knowledge that shines through Mahoney’s continued work.

“No one cares more about the people he is writing about,” Warner said about Mahoney. “He is very invested in the little details that make people special, regardless of their particular role in sports.”

Warner said Mahoney has an unparalleled historical perspective of Maine sports.

“He’s been paying attention to things for so long and he’s been so invested in his work that he can tie items together that may on the surface seem unconnected,” Warner continued. “But because of his experience and his depth of knowledge, he can connect the dots on things that people may not ever have realized.”

In the announcement from the hall of fame, Mahoney is credited for “earning a stellar reputation while writing on every sports topic imaginable.” That prolific and knowledgeable coverage continues today, and Mahoney would surely rather be writing about those topics than talking about himself.

“It’s humbling to be going into such a prestigious hall of fame with people who are giants in their areas of expertise,” Mahoney said on Monday, characteristically deflecting the attention from himself and stressing that each of the nine other inductees “have done remarkable things and so deserve to be going into the hall.”

The nine other honorees are former Falmouth High School soccer and basketball player Bryant Barr, who went on to play basketball at Davidson with Steph Curry; paracyclist Clara Brown of Cumberland who has won 11 world championship medals and competed in two Paralympic games, including a Bronze medal showing in Paris; Husson University men’s basketball coach Warren Caruso, who is nearing his 600th win; mulit-sport standout Jamie Cook of Kennebunk who went on to be a three-time All-American in the Decathlon at Penn State; Maine Celtics President Dajuan Eubanks who has been with the team in various capacities since its start in 2009; basketball player and coach Kelly Bowman Flagg, who was a key player on the only University of Maine women’s or men’s team to win an NCAA tournament game (and who is also the mother of Cooper and Ace Flagg); Smith College women’s basketball coach Lynn Hersey who played for Dexter High School and Plymouth State; Messalonskee High School track star Jesse Labreck who went on to earn the nickname “Flex” as a champion on the TV show “America Ninja Warrior”; and Portland High School and Northeastern runner Danny Paul who went on to be a prolific road race winner and coach.

Tickets for the induction ceremony, which will be held at Husson University, will go on sale on June 1.