The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that USA Powerlifting violated the state’s Human Rights Act in barring a transgender woman from competition, reversing part of an earlier appeals court decision but sending another part of the case back to a lower court for further review.
JayCee Cooper is a transgender athlete who was denied entry into two women’s competitions in 2018. She sued, arguing that doing so amounted to discrimination and violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Act.
USA Powerlifting in response claimed that its policy wasn’t because of her transgender status, but because she had “strength advantages” due to her sex assigned at birth.
“Although USA Powerlifting lacked a formal, written transgender participation policy at the time of its initial communication with Cooper, the record establishes—and the parties do not dispute—that USA Powerlifting’s policy at the time of the decision was to categorically exclude transgender women from competing in the women’s division,” the ruling stated.
Cooper’s legal team and advocates for LGBTQ people praised the ruling as a “massive win.”
“The court found USA Powerlifting liable for discrimination,” Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman said. “In other words, when it comes to discrimination public accommodation—you cannot bar transgender women from women’s sports teams, and that is a huge victory. We are so proud.”
But the state’s highest court sent the additional business discrimination claim Cooper made back to the district court for further proceedings to determine if USA Powerlifting “has a legitimate business purpose for excluding transgender women from the women’s division,” which the law allows.
The Court affirmed part of the appeals court’s decision that there is “a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether USA Powerlifting has a legitimate business purpose for excluding transgender women from the women’s division.”
It instructs that USA Powerlifting “must establish that its blanket policy of prohibiting all transgender women from competing in the women’s division is reasonably necessary for it to achieve the central mission of its business, that no reasonable alternatives to the discrimination exist, and that this policy is not based on stereotypes about transgender women.”
Ansis Viksnins, the attorney for the organization, said that will provide USA Powerlifting a chance to make its case that transgender women have an unfair advantage in competition.
“What the Supreme Court did was to hold that there were questions, legitimate questions, for a jury to decide on the business discrimination part of the case, specifically whether USA power lifting had a legitimate business reason for not allowing Ms. Cooper to compete in the women’s division,” he said in an interview. “And so we’re very pleased that the court is giving us that opportunity to present all of the evidence.”
He also said he worries about the implications the decision on public accommodations might have going forward because the Trump administration is taking actions against states allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
Separate from this state case, federal officials are threatening enforcement against Minnesota because of its policy for students to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity, arguing it violates Title IX protections.
“We’re also very concerned that that part of the Supreme Court’s opinion seems to be in direct conflict with where federal law is going currently,” Viksnins said.
Braverman argued any further decision in a lower court would have little impact because this ruling requires public accommodations to comply with Minnesota’s anti-discrimination laws.
“JayCee Cooper won on public accommodations. That’s not changing no matter what,” Braverman said. ” … Even if we took the business claim to its end and even if USA Powerlifting were successful on that, they would still lose on public accommodations and be liable to her for discrimination.”
A statement from Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, called the state Supreme Court’s ruling “another setback in the fight to protect girls’ sports.”
“This issue is ultimately about safety and fairness, and Minnesotans overwhelmingly agree that their daughters and granddaughters should not be forced to compete against boys. House Republicans are ready to act in the first weeks of next year’s legislative session to make clear that girls’ sports are for girls,” Demuth said.
