The USA Powerlifting (USAPL) federation was recently involved in a court hearing about their transgender inclusion policy in the state of Minnesota. Having banned transgender athletes from competing in the women’s division, USAPL found themselves under a lot of pressure from the community. In addition, they lost the court case and were ordered to “cease and desist from the unfair discriminatory practice of barring transgender female athletes from competing with other women”. However, the sanctions for the USAPL federation just got even worse, as the organization was forced to stop doing business in the state of Minnesota as well.
USAPL revealed the new information through their website on April 15th. They revealed how they revised their transgender policy and submitted it to the court, but were still banned from doing business in Minnesota. However, they believe that the judge in charge of their case misinterpreted the law and made the wrong decision. So, they will submit an appeal, which they hope will correct the situation.
“As many of you know, USA Powerlifting is involved in litigation in Minnesota involving the appropriate and fair inclusion of transgender athletes. The judge assigned to this case has ordered us to cease doing business in Minnesota even though we complied with an earlier court order by submitting a revised policy concerning male to female transgender athletes. We believe the judge has misinterpreted Minnesota law in this regard and exceeded his authority in terms of the conduct of our service to our members. We will appeal this highly unusual ruling.”
However, despite their plans to submit an appeal, USAPL will still have to suspend their activities in Minnesota for now. This means that they can’t organize competitions, other events, or sell memberships.
“However, while these proceedings play out, we are ordered to suspend competitions in Minnesota and cease selling memberships to Minnesota residents. We are investigating relocating Midwest Regionals and further information will be forthcoming.”
Apart from the written statement, the USAPL’s president, Larry Maile, also released a statement explaining the organization’s beliefs, statistics, and the process.
Watch USAPL’s video here:
Related: Lee Priest Goes Off on Trans Powerlifting Ruling: ’It’s Ridiculous’
JayCee Cooper was the athlete who filed a lawsuit against the USAPL in 2021, but only got to sigh with relief two years after. Cooper received an email in 2019 informing her that she could not participate in the women’s division of the USA Powerlifting (USAPL) federation. Following this, she decided to request protection under the Human Rights Act in order to address the issue of gender discrimination.
Transgender policies have proved to be sensitive in other federations as well. For example, in the Canadian Powerlifting Federation (CPU) anyone who states that they are a woman can compete in the women’s division. This recently resulted in an interesting situation, as Avi Silverberg, a man, entered the women’s division and broke the bench press record. Furthermore, the record which he broke was previously in possession of a transgender athlete, Anne Andres, who was present at the record-breaking performance as well.
Another federation whose transgender policies were faulty was the United States Powerlifting Association (USPA), whose rules of conduct at the time prohibited transgender athletes from competing in drug-tested competitions. Their reasoning was that hormone use was not permitted in competitions that were tested. Thus, trans people who required hormonal treatment would not be allowed to compete in these sorts of competitions.
The order to stop conducting business in Minnesota has affected the USAPL already, as they have to relocate the Central and Midwest Regionals to a different state. Based on USAPL’s stance on this matter, it seems that they will fight until the end. Therefore, the outcome of the situation remains to be seen.
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