Transgender Powerlifter Takes Discrimination Lawsuit to Minnesota Supreme Court

A transgender powerlifter’s discrimination lawsuit has gone all the way up to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Jaycee Cooper, a man living as a woman, filed a discrimination lawsuit against USA Powerlifting in 2021 after the organization rejected Cooper from the women’s team three years earlier. Fox News outlined the history:

In the complaint, Cooper alleged the organization violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which prohibits 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, which spurred a mandate that the federation “cease and desist from all unfair discriminatory practices” because of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The federation appealed the decision; Cooper then cross-appealed, and on Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals decided the athletic league did not discriminate against the individual.

During opening arguments at the Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday, USA Powerlifting attorney Ansis Viksnins said that Cooper’s exclusion could not be equated to someone being discriminated against based on race or religion.

“There is no legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason why there could be separation based on religion or national origin or race, whereas there is a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for separating and treating transgender or women differently,” Viksnins said.

“The motive here was to separate biological males into a category where they are competing against other people who were born biologically male, that if I could point out my client separate competitors three ways by age, weight and sex. They do not care about gender identity. They don’t care about sexual orientation,” Viksnins added.

Speaking with FOX 9 in Minnesota back in 2021, Larry Maile, President of USAPL, said that the federation created an “open” category to accommodate different “gender identities.”

“Our goal at USAPL is to create rules and a framework that uphold the principles of fair play, not to exclude anyone,” said Maile. “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.”

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