There’s been a bit of a culture war against trans women competing in sports recently. Things have gotten so serious that one case has gone all the way up to one of the nation’s Supreme Courts.
A transgender athlete in Minnesota has filed a discrimination lawsuit that has reached the Minnesota Supreme Court, according to Outkick.
JayCee Cooper, a trans woman, sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after she was rejected from the women’s team three years earlier, claiming that USA Powerlifting violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
“It’s just basic discrimination law that you can’t pick out people based on who they are, based on averages, generalizations and stereotypes about what their bodies are like,” said Jess Braverman, one of Cooper’s attorneys.
“That’s true for cis-gendered women, it’s true for transgender women, and we want to make sure that law is enforced.”
A Ramsey County District Court already ruled in favor of Cooper in 2023, which led to a rule that the federation had to “cease and desist from all unfair discriminatory practices” based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
USAPL appealed and the ruling was partially overturned by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Cooper has since counter-appealed, which has sent everything to the state’s Supreme Court.
It’ll be interesting to see how this case is ultimately resolved, but it’s interesting that USAPL is working so hard to keep Cooper and other trans athletes from competing, considering there’s been no proven advantage to them doing so.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.