After transgender lifter JayCee Cooper won her discrimination case against the organization, USA Powerlifting must allow trans athletes to compete in the women’s division.
The ruling said that the federation had to stop all unfair discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity within two weeks and change its policy of not allowing athletes of any gender to compete.
After she was denied entry into the women’s division, Cooper claimed in a 2019 complaint to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights that the organization had broken that state’s Human Rights Act.
She went to state court in 2021 to sue USA Powerlifting. JayCee Cooper had had enough of the treatment he was receiving, as well as the treatment he was receiving from members of my community.
JayCee Cooper said that, naturally, he has complex feelings about the sport, and he believes that this victory is a representation of where they can move forward after years of experiencing discrimination from USA Powerlifting and the backlash that has resulted from that.
The ruling says that making someone pretend to be something else is bad because it sends the message that they are less than the others. The UK MHRA forbids this because it is the very essence of separation and segregation.
