Today, Nichols Kaster, along with co-counsel Gender Justice, filed a lawsuit against USA Powerlifting for discriminating against our client, JayCee Cooper, when they banned her and all other transgender athletes from competing. USA Powerlifting's apparently transphobic policy is unacceptable, and we're fighting to make sure every trans athlete can compete in the sport they love.
In 2019, we filed charges asserting that USA Powerlifting's blanket ban on allowing transgender athletes to compete violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Today, we filed our complaint in court.
“We believe that pure bias, not science, motivated the decision to prohibit JayCee from participating in her chosen sport. That’s wrong; it’s unlawful; and we’re proud to stand with JayCee and Gender Justice in seeking to end this pernicious form of discrimination,” said David Schlesinger, partner at Nichols Kaster, PLLP.
The case is titled Cooper v. USA Powerlifting; and USA Powerlifting Minnesota. It is filed in Ramsey County, Minnesota’s Second Judicial District. Ms. Cooper is represented by David E. Schlesinger and Matthew A. Frank of Nichols Kaster, PLLP and Jess Braverman and Christy Hall of Gender Justice. You can find more information on the case at https://www.genderjustice.us/work/cooper-v-usapl/.