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A ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court finds a transgender powerlifter was discriminated against when USA Powerlifting refused to allow her to compete in women's events. Transgender powerlifter ruling What we know: The decision handed down on Wednesday by the Minnesota Supreme Court gave a big win to transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper. In the ruling, the justices agreed that Cooper had been discriminated against by USA Powerlifting, who refused to allow her to compete in women's events. The Minnesota Supreme Court found the district court rightly granted partial summary judgment for Cooper on the discrimination complaint. Dig deeper: Wednesday's ruling found that under Minnesota's Human Rights Act, USA Powerlifting's policy that prohibits transgender women from competing in women's competition constituted sexual orientation discrimination. Transgender powerlifter case The backstory: Cooper filed the lawsuit back in 2021 after USA Powerlifting denied her from competing in the women's division in 2018. A Ramsey County district court judge sided with Cooper in a 2023 decision that was later appealed by USA Powerlifting. The Court of Appeals then partially overturned the district court's decision in 2024. The case then moved to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The other side: USA Powerlifting has argued that allowing transgender women to compete in the women's division would put other women at a disadvantage. In a statement last year, as the case was heading to the state Supreme Court, 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." Maile added, "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."
