AUGUSTA – An Auburn legislator says girl athletes should be permitted to try out for and play on boys’ sports teams in all Maine high schools.

Rep. John Michael, an independent, said his bill would remove “any remaining vestiges of sexism that could hold the girls from being allowed to compete at the highest level of their dreams and ambitions.”

Michael noted that high schools in Lewiston, Auburn and Portland allow girls to try out for boys teams, but many other schools do not.

The Maine Principals’ Association is opposed to the bill, calling it unnecessary.

Scott Phair, who chairs the association’s Legislative Committee and is principal of Waterville Junior/Senior High School, said the Maine Human Rights Act already guarantees that girls have equal opportunities in sports.

The Legislature’s Education Committee was scheduled to consider the bill Thursday.

Support for the measure came from several female athletes, including a Lewiston High School graduate who testified in writing that playing on the boys’ ice hockey team was good preparation for her present post.

Katie Lachapelle, an assistant ice hockey and field hockey coach at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., said she started playing ice hockey with boys at age 5 and continued playing through high school, which helped her win a partial scholarship at Providence College.

“Without being allowed to play men’s high school hockey, it would have been difficult for me to continue to develop into a NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey player, playing for one of the best teams in the nation,” she wrote.

April Gerry, 13, of Auburn said she played Little League baseball with boys and was asked to play for the boys’ team at her Auburn Middle School.

“Some schools don’t let the girls play on the top team if they have a girls’ team. I think that would be too bad because if a girl is good enough, she shouldn’t be kept back just because she’s a girl,” Gerry said.