USA Powerlifting did not violate trans woman’s rights, court rules

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A Minnesota appeals court has struck down a prior ruling that said the USA Powerlifting organization had violated a transgender woman’s rights by prohibiting her from joining the women’s team.

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JayCee Cooper, a transgender woman, sued the organization in 2021 after being rejected from the women’s team in 2018, according to Fox.

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Cooper said in the complaint that USA Powerlifting allegedly violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which protects discrimination against people “having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one’s biological maleness or femaleness.”

A district court ruled last year that the organization discriminated against Cooper, then they appealed the decision. Cooper cross-appealed and earlier this week the Minnesota Court of Appeals decided USA Powerlifting did not discriminate against Cooper.

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“USA Powerlifting did not exclude JayCee Cooper because of her gender identity,” the organization’s lead attorney Ansis V. Viksnins told Fox in a statement. “USA Powerlifting excluded her from competing in the women’s division because of her physiology: She enjoys strength advantages over other women because she went through puberty as a man.

“Maintaining separate categories based on sex, age and weight is necessary so that similarly situated athletes have fair opportunities of success. Scientific studies show that athletes who have gone through male puberty enjoy a large strength advantage over athletes who go through puberty as a female. The scientific studies also show that suppressing testosterone only reduces the strength advantage by a very minimal amount. Because powerlifting is a strength sport, the strength differences between competitors are significant. Excluding male-to-female transgender powerlifters from the women’s division is necessary to maintain fairness and integrity in the sport.”

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The case could now go to a lower court or Cooper could try to send it to the Supreme Court. Cooper’s attorney did not respond to Fox’s request for a comment.

According to Judge Matthew Johnson’s lengthy opinion, the court concluded “there are no genuine issues of material fact on Cooper’s claim of aiding and abetting discrimination and, accordingly, affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment on that claim.”

Cooper participated in men’s sports before transitioning in her 20s and changing her name sometime between 2015 and 2016, when she was 28 years old, the court documents said. Cooper became a member of USA Powerlifting in 2018.

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