A transgender athlete came through with a huge victory after winning a lawsuit against USA Powerlifting. A Minnesota court has subsequently ruled the sports organization must allow trans competitors in its women’s divisions.
USAPL had previously banned trans athlete JayCee Cooper from competing in its women’s competitions. That led to Cooper filing a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in 2019 and a lawsuit in state court in 2021. With Cooper’s victory comes a mandate the federation “cease and desist from all unfair discriminatory practices” because of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The organization has two weeks to revise its policy related to those issues.
“I was fed up with the way that I was being treated; I was fed up with the way that my community was being treated, and enough was enough,” Cooper told KARE-TV.
“I feel mostly relief. I think we needed a win here, and it feels good to get that.”
“The harm is in making a person pretend to be something different, the implicit message being that who they are is less than,” the ruling said. “That is the very essence of separation and segregation, and it is what the MHRA prohibits.”
USA Powerlifting will consider an appeal.
“Our position has been aimed at balancing the needs of cis- and transgender women whose capacities differ significantly in purely strength sports,” USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile said in a statement.
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Former NFL Pro Bowler Marcellus Wiley made it clear on this topic by stating he would not allow his daughters to compete against transgender athletes.
