Trans Powerlifter JayCee Cooper Reaches Settlement With USA Powerlifting

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Courtesy of Gender Justice
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Transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper and USA Powerlifting have reached an agreement for a settlement in the athlete’s case against them. Previously, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the organization had been unlawful in barring Cooper from competing.

The Legal Director at Gender Justice, the organization that represented Cooper, called the settlement a win for trans athletes looking to compete.

“This settlement — which includes an acknowledgement by USA Powerlifting that their policies excluding trans women athletes for discrimination broke the law — affirms Minnesota’s commitment to protecting every person’s right to compete, belong and thrive without discrimination,” Jess Braverman, legal director for the nonprofit law firm Gender Justice, told the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

By contrast, USA Powerlifting president Larry Maile, who is also a women’s powerlifting coach, said the ruling “has forced Minnesota to take a step backward for women, fair competition and common sense,” in a statement to CBS News. “We continue to believe strongly in the merits of our case, which are supported by global competition standards and bipartisan public sentiment. But left with few legal options, settlement is in the best interests of the organization.”

Cooper first sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after having been told in 2018 that she could not compete in a statewide competition because she was a trans woman.

“I don’t want anyone to experience what I and other trans athletes have and continue to experience: having our basic human dignity questioned and opportunities denied because we are trans,” Cooper said in a 2021 livestream announcing the lawsuit “We all benefit when sports are as inclusive as possible, when we organize around our shared humanity and collective empowerment.”

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in Cooper’s favor in October, determining in a 35-page ruling that USA Powerlifting’s policy of categorically excluding transgender women from the women's division constituted discrimination in public accommodations and violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Exact details of the settlement were not disclosed, per CBS News.

In a statement, USA Powerlifting said that it “has made no decision yet on next steps in its Minnesota operations” and that leadership would be reviewing the matter in the coming weeks.

Cooper’s victory comes just over a month after the International Olympics Committee ruled to ban all trans women from competing in Olympics Events ahead of the 2028 games in Los Angeles. The new policy requires athletes to be tested for the sex-determining region Y gene in order to maintain eligibility for women’s Olympic qualifiers and events. The decision prompted an outcry from several prominent LGBTQ+ athletes. Multiple athletic leagueshave issued similar exclusionary policies during the second Trump administration in seeming compliance with a February 2025 executive order that seeks to ban trans women from women’s sports.

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