ST. PAUL, Minn. — A transgender athlete should be allowed to compete in the women's division at powerlifting events because she's protected against discrimination by the Minnesota Human Rights Act, her attorneys urged the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.
USA Powerlifting rejected JayCee Cooper's application in 2018 to compete in the women's division of its events on the ground that she enjoys strength advantages over other women. Cooper sued in 2021, and the trial court sided with her.
But the Minnesota Court of Appeals sent the case back to the trial court in March, saying there were ''genuine issues of fact'' about whether USA Powerlifting excluded Cooper because of her transgender identity and whether the organization had a ''legitimate business reason'' for rejecting her. Cooper then took the case to the state's highest court.
Cooper's attorney, Christy Hall, said USA Powerlifting's policy discriminates against all transgender women, regardless of their individual physical capabilities, and urged the justices to reverse the Court of Appeals decision.
''It holds that stereotypes about people's bodies as a group may legitimately be used to discriminate against individuals," Hall said. "For example, you could use the exact same logic to say women can't be firefighters because firefighters need to be strong and women as a group aren't as strong as men.''
Ansis Viksnins, an attorney for USA Powerlifting, argued that the law requires courts to answer the question of whether a defendant had a discriminatory motive, not just whether the action was discriminatory. He said the Court of Appeals was right to send the case back to the trial court to determine whether the sports group had a legitimate reason for barring Cooper from competing in its women's division.
''I would suggest there would be a serious, chilling effect on women's sports'' if Cooper's arguments prevail, Viksnins said.
Transgender people's participation in sports has been a contentious issue across the country and was a hot topic in the fall elections. Republican Donald Trump put his opposition front and center in his presidential campaign. The LGBTQ-rights movement regarded Trump's election as one of its biggest setbacks in its history.