A district judge in Minnesota has ruled that USA Powerlifting (USAPL) illegally discriminated against transgender athletes by barring them from competing according to their gender identity. The case was brought by JayCee Cooper, who was banned from competing in women’s powerlifting competitions because she is trans. USAPL instituted a new policy in 2019 that banned all trans women from participating in women’s powerlifting competitions. Judge Patrick Diamond ordered USAPL to revise its discriminatory policies within two weeks and allow trans women to compete with cisgender women athletes.
Cooper, who filed a discrimination complaint in 2019 and sued USAPL and Powerlifting Minnesota for violating Minnesota’s Human Rights Act, welcomed the ruling as a victory for trans athletes across the country. The law, passed in 1993, was based on an earlier Minneapolis statute and made Minnesota the first state in the country to ban discrimination against transgender people. Cooper’s case argued that USAPL’s policy violated the law.
USAPL has previously argued that it bans transgender women from participating due to “fairness” concerns, claiming that they have developmental advantages over other women. However, a new study commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport found that trans women do not have any advantages over other women when competing in elite sport. Jess Braverman, legal director of Minnesota-based Gender Justice, praised the ruling and called on other sports organizations to follow suit in welcoming trans athletes to compete as their authentic selves. The Los Angeles Blade reached out to USAPL for a comment but did not receive a response as of press time.