Minnesota powerlifter JayCee Cooper just won a major victory against USA Powerlifting (USAPL), a national organization that sanctions powerlifting meets throughout the country. On Monday, a state court ruled that the organization discriminated against Cooper, who is a trans woman, with its 2019 ban on her participation in women’s competitions.
In a statement to the LGBTQ+ athletics publication Outsports, Cooper said that she “fought as hard as I could to ensure that every trans athlete has the opportunity to compete, and be recognized with full dignity and humanity.”
“I am thrilled that this ruling recognizes our rights and our humanity and hopefully opens doors for transgender athletes everywhere to participate fully in sports,” Cooper said.
Cooper first sued USAPL in 2021, alleging that the organization had violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act’s anti-discrimination statutes, as Outsports reported. The initial complaint details how Cooper “fell in love with the sport” as she began competing in powerlifting in 2018. Later that year, USAPL informed Cooper via email that she would be ineligible for competition in the Minnesota Women’s State Championship, which took place in February 2019, because she is trans. Her competition card was also revoked, rendering her ineligible to compete in future USAPL events. After banning Cooper from competition, the organization, which previously did not have a formal policy regarding trans women’s participation, officially banned trans women from competition.
On Monday, the Ramsey County District Court issued a 46-page ruling in the case finding that the USAPL did indeed discriminate in the business arena against Cooper on the basis of sexual orientation and sex. However, the court did not rule on whether or not the USAPL had violated bans on discrimination in the area of public accommodations due to a factual dispute on whether or not USAPL is exempt from Minnesota laws regarding public accommodations.
The judgment pushed back on a number of common arguments that are used to oppose trans women in sports. Acknowledging that the USAPL’s ban was focused on “fairness” to cis female athletes, the court wrote that “the USAPL’s evidence of competitive advantage does not take into account any competitive disadvantage a transgender athlete might face from, for example, increased risk of depression and suicide, lack of access to coaching and practice facilities, or other performance suppression common to transgender persons.” The ruling further claimed that the USAPL had an “extraordinarily narrow view of ‘fairness’ for an organization allegedly seeking broad membership and promotion of powerlifting as a beneficial activity, including at the non-elite level.”
As a result, USAPL will be forced to repeal its rule against trans women competing and must submit a revised policy within 14 days of the judgment. A future trial for damages is set for May 1.
The ruling comes as a rare bit of good news in the realm of trans athletics, at a time when the right to play sports as a trans person is otherwise under attack. Forty-two bills have been introduced in state legislatures this year that ban or limit trans kids from playing sports, according to the legislative tracking of independent researchers Allison Chapman, Alejandra Caraballo, and Erin Reed. Eighteen states overall currently have bans on trans students competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identities, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on social justice issues.
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