Trans female weightlifter is taking USA Powerlifting to the Minnesota Supreme Court
The age-old case involving a transgender female powerlifter reached the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday for opening arguments.
JayCee Cooper, sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after being rejected from the women’s team three years ago. In the complaint, Cooper alleges that the agency violated the Minnesota Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against people “whose image or identity is not traditionally associated with a person’s natural masculinity or femininity.”
A district court ruled last year that the agency discriminated against Cooper, prompting an order that the union “cease and desist from all unfair practices of discrimination” based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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A decades-old case involving a transgender female powerlifter has reached the Minnesota Supreme Court. (Kevin Langley/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The coalition appealed the decision; Cooper then appealed, and on Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the athletic league does not discriminate.
On Tuesday, the court asked Ansis Viksnins, a lawyer for USA Powerlifting, why barring Cooper from the women’s competition was not “discriminatory.”
Viksnins responded that “it is not based on gender identity.”
The court questioned whether the policy would be fair if it were publicly or religiously based, comparing Cooper’s case to the hypothesis that Catholics would be better pitchers – but the comparison was struck down.
“There is no reasonable and non-discriminatory reason why there may be differences based on religion or national origin or race, while there is a reasonable, non-discriminatory reason to separate and treat transgender people or women differently,” said Viksnins.
JayCee Cooper, sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after being rejected from the women’s team three years ago. In this complaint, Cooper alleges that the organization violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. (Kevin Langley/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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“The goal here was to separate natural males in the category where they compete with other male-born individuals, if I can target my client by age, weight and gender. They don’t care about gender. identity.
The coalition opened an “open” phase in 2021 “to serve all gender identities,” according to FOX 9 in Minnesota.
“Our goal in the USAPL is to create rules and frameworks that are consistent with the principles of fair play, not to exclude anyone,” said Larry Maile, President of the USAPL in a statement sent to the organization. “Since science shows that those born male have a greater physical advantage than athletes born female, our responsibility is to define the legal categories in order to place the athletes correctly among them.”
The state court cited “increased risk of depression and suicide, lack of access to training and exercise facilities, or other suppression of normal performance for transgender people” as competitive problems for transgender competitors, helping Cooper win the discrimination case at first.
According to Open Powerlifting, Cooper last competed at the AMP Classic Open Nationals in Texas in 2022 and finished third out of three competitors in the division.
Cooper last qualified for the 2022 AMP Classic Open Nationals in Texas and finished third out of three competitors in the division. (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
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Cooper competed twice against her only competitor – Rebecca Richnofsky – in the open women’s 198+ division in 2019, winning both times.
At the 2019 USPA National Championship, Cooper finished fourth out of four competitors in that division.
Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
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