03/18/24 07:03:00
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03/18 19:01 CDT Discrimination lawsuit brought by transgender athlete sent back
to Minnesota trial court
Discrimination lawsuit brought by transgender athlete sent back to Minnesota
trial court
By JACK DURA
Associated Press
A Minnesota appeals court has sent the lawsuit brought by a transgender athlete
back to a trial court to determine whether she was illegally denied entry into
women's competitions because of her gender identity.
JayCee Cooper, a transgender woman, sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after the
organization denied her 2018 request for participation. She alleged the
organization violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, an anti-discrimination
law which includes gender identity.
Last year, a district court judge found that USA Powerlifting had discriminated
against Cooper. USA Powerlifting appealed, and Cooper cross-appealed. In its
lengthy Monday decision, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed, reversed and
sent back parts of the case.
Judge Matthew Johnson wrote: "The circumstantial evidence on which Cooper
relies, when viewed in a light most favorable to her, is sufficient to allow a
fact-finder to draw inferences and thereby find that USAPL excluded Cooper from
its competitions because of her sexual orientation (i.e., transgender status)."
Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman, an attorney for Cooper, said, "We
agree that it's illegal to discriminate against transgender people in
Minnesota, but we think it's crystal clear that that's what USA Powerlifting
did in this case, so we don't agree with the court's ultimate conclusion that
the case needs to go back for a trial, and we're currently weighing all of our
options."
Cooper could ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to review the decision, or go back
to the lower court to keep litigating the case, Braverman said.
Ansis Viksnins, USA Powerlifting's lead attorney, welcomed the decision as
having "corrected some of the mistakes" made by the lower court and has given
their side an opportunity "to tell our side of the story" to a jury.
"USA Powerlifting did not exclude Ms. Cooper because of her gender identity,"
Viksnins said. "USA Powerlifting excluded her from competing in the women's
division because of her physiology. She was born biologically male and went
through puberty as a male, and as a result, she has significant strength
advantages over other people who would be competing in the women's division."
Cooper asked USA Powerlifting for a "therapeutic-use exemption" to take
spironolactone, a medicine prescribed to treat her gender dysphoria, "but
JayCee was denied because she's transgender," Braverman said.
She filed a complaint in 2019 with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights,
but withdrew it before reaching a decision. The department filed an amicus
brief in the lawsuit in support of Cooper, Braverman said.
In schools and private clubs across the country, transgender people's
participation in sports has become a contentious issue. Many Republican-led
states have banned transgender people from participating in high school and
collegiate sports.
Last week, a group of college athletes, including swimmer Riley Gaines, sued
the NCAA, alleging the organization violated their Title IX rights by allowing
Lia Thomas, who is a transgender woman, to compete in the 2022 national
championships.
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