USA Powerlifting has been forced to allow transgender women to compete against women born after campaigning for nearly five years to allow them to compete in the female category.
Trans weightlifter Jaycee Cooper began competing in sports in 2019 after the sports body rejected her request to compete as a woman. Ultimately, Cooper sued in state court in 2021 and won against the organization based on Minnesota’s anti-discrimination law, which affirmed that it was competitive. by his “chosen gender”.
“Marsha P. “The Stonewall riots and the abundance of black trans advocates and activists throughout history — and how they’ve fought those struggles — I’m just a small part of that,” Johnson says. @JayCeeIsAlive 💚 https://t.co/tGT4A9112Y
— Gender Justice (@GenderJustice) March 1, 2023
Cooper, 34, said she became a woman in 2014 and was taking an anti-androgen medication that drastically reduced the level of testosterone in her body. She said that would allow her to compete as a woman under Olympic rules, so it should be good enough for USA Powerlifting as well. However, she also said that preventing her from competing in the gender of her choice violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
Late last month, Circuit Court Judge Patrick Diamond, who was appointed to the bench by Liberal Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton in 2012, backed Cooper’s attack on USA Powerlifting’s ban on transgender women.
“By denying Cooper her right to participate in the women’s category, a category consistent with her self-identification, USAPL has denied its members full and equal access to the services, support and opportunities provided by USAPL. “Almas wrote in his decision. “He isolated Cooper and isolated him, and in so doing he failed to fully fulfill his contractual obligations when he accepted Cooper’s money and gave Cooper his membership card.”
Judge Diamond gave USA Powerlifting two weeks to change its policy on transgender competitors.
“Our position is designed to balance the needs of cis and transgender women, whose abilities differ greatly in the sport of pure strength,” USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile said in a statement, Fox News reported.
The judge, however, cited “increased risk of depression and suicide, lack of access to exercise and training, or other reduced performance specific to transgender people” as competitive disadvantages for athletes. transgender.
In 2019, Cooper’s lawsuit also concerned far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who wrote to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, demanding that the AG’s office investigate the ban on USA Powerlifting, calling it illegal. said the discrimination as well as the ban were “unscientific”.
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