The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that USA Powerlifting discriminated against a transgender-identifying athlete by refusing to allow the biological male to compete in a women’s division in 2018.
JayCee Cooper filed a lawsuit in 2021, claiming the organization violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Act by rejecting his application to compete in the women’s category. In a unanimous decision, the court found that “USA Powerlifting’s policy at the time of the decision was to categorically exclude transgender women from competing in the women’s division.”
Chief Justice Natalie Hudson wrote in the court’s opinion, “Because USA Powerlifting’s facially discriminatory policy provides direct evidence of discriminatory motive, there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Cooper’s transgender status actually motivated USA Powerlifting’s decision to prohibit Cooper from competing. We therefore reverse the part of the court of appeals’ decision on this issue.”
“We agree with Cooper that USA Powerlifting’s policy is discriminatory on its face; there is therefore no genuine dispute that USA Powerlifting discriminated against Cooper because of her transgender status,” Hudson added.
The court also sent part of the case back to a lower court to determine whether USA Powerlifting has a “legitimate business purpose” for excluding the transgender athlete.
The organization has argued that allowing biological males to compete in the women’s division would put female athletes at a disadvantage. In a statement last year, USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile said, “Our goal at USAPL is to create rules and a framework that uphold the principles of fair play, not to exclude anyone. To support trans athletes, USAPL created an open MX division in 2021 to serve all gender identities, including transgender and nonbinary members. The organization welcomes trans referees in all competitions, open or otherwise.”
“Since science shows those who were born biologically male have a profound physical advantage over female-born athletes, our responsibility is to define legitimate categories to fairly place athletes within them,” Maile said.
