Powerlifting President to Newsmax: Science Led to Court Win Over Trans Challenge

A Minnesota court victory for USA Powerlifting in a case involving a transgender athlete may have influence nationally, the organization's president told Newsmax on Wednesday.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals this week overturned a ruling that sided with JayCee Cooper, who sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after being denied the opportunity to compete in the women's division because she's transgender, KSTP-TV reported.

The appellate court ruled that USA Powerlifting had a "non-discriminatory reason" for refusing to let Cooper compete against women, and sent the case back to a lower court.

USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile appeared on "National Report" to discuss the court decision.

"I think that that you have to put it in the context of a sort of a larger movement to look at this issue in and of itself," Maile told co-hosts Shaun Kraisman and Emma Rechenberg. "But I see this as a win and the win for us is that the appeals court clearly said by majority decision you have to go back and look at this based on the science and it isn't on its face discrimination. There may well be physiological reasons why USA powerlifting made this decision.

"And I think, also, in the larger sense how the court treats us in Minnesota and how Minnesota addresses this really will have a lot to do with what the pushback is gonna be nationally.

"We're a part of a national sort of examination of this issue and if we are treated unfairly by the court in Minnesota, I think there will be backlash really across the country."

Maile explained that USA Powerlifting did not discriminate against Cooper because its decision was based on science.

"It's been a long run for us that started with the Minnesota Human Rights Commission and the allegations were that we discriminated against Ms. Cooper based on transgender status," Maile said. "Which is far from the truth, actually.

"We did a thoughtful evaluation of our data, and it proved at least in powerlifting that men and women are substantially different. And fundamentally, their [trans athletes] inclusion in the women's division represents unfair competition for women who are born that way."

Maile said his organization studied 17,000 cases worldwide and found that "men are about 60% stronger than women."

"That's a gulf that just can't be overcome by hormone reduction or what have you," Maile said. "Having matured and gone through puberty as a male makes you substantially different than a woman, and you can't fix that."

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