Trans athlete wins lawsuit to compete in USA Powerlifting events

USA Powerlifting said its policy wasn’t transphobic but to ensure fairness since trans women have a “direct competitive advantage” over cisgender women.

Transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper has won her discrimination lawsuit against USA Powerlifting (USAPL), a competitive federation that had banned her and other trans people from competing.

Cooper sued USAPL in January 2021, saying that its policy violates Minnesota’s Human Rights Act, a law that explicitly forbids transgender-based discrimination.

In his decision, District Court Judge Patrick Diamond ordered USAPL to immediately stop discriminating based on gender identity and to submit revised participation policies within two weeks.

On January 30, 2019, USAPL sent Cooper, a USAPL member, a letter forbidding her from competing. The federation’s policy said that “transgender women are allowed to compete in the division reflecting their birth,” meaning that trans women must compete against other lifters who were assigned a male gender at birth.

The USAPL policy also stated that trans men couldn’t…

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