UPDATE: A major victory for trans rights coming out of the Minnesota Supreme Court, which on October 22, 2025 unanimously ruled in favor of JayCee Cooper’s challenge to USA Powerlifting’s anti-trans ban under the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) in Cooper v. USA Powerlifting!

On appeal from the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ 2024 ruling against JayCee, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the lower court was wrong to rule against JayCee’s public accommodations claim against USA Powerlifting for its ban. The Court held that the ban was discriminatory on its face and ruled in JayCee’s favor because USA Powerlifting could offer no justification or defense for the discrimination. This holding confirmed what we know is true and what we emphasized in our amicus brief: that trans athletes have the right to compete consistent with their affirmed gender under the MHRA, and that USA Powerlifting’s anti-trans ban is repugnant to the purpose of nondiscrimination laws like MHRA’s and gender justice. This ruling is critical to ensure that all women and girls, including trans women and girls, have safe and equal access to all facets of public life in Minnesota, including sports, and, more broadly, is a crucial result for the trans and queer community as they continue to face hostility and attacks on their rights. 

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On August 30, 2024, the National Women’s Law Center, our law firm partners Nigh, Goldenberg, Raso & Vaugn and Covington & Burling LLP, and 20 additional organizations committed to gender justice filed an amicus brief to Minnesota Supreme Court in Cooper v. USA Powerlifting. This case was brought by powerlifter JayCee Cooper to challenge USA Powerlifting’s explicitly discriminatory policy, barring all trans women from competing in their powerlifting competitions. Represented by GenderJustice, JayCee won a strong preliminary decision at the district court level, finding that USA Powerlifting likely violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Law. 

Our amicus brief in support of JayCee explains to the Court that strong enforcement of state nondiscrimination laws, including in sports and all businesses open to the public, makes life safer and more equitable for transgender women, cisgender women, LGBTQI+ women, women of color, and all people. USA Powerlifting has relied on fearmongering and sex stereotypes in its arguments defending its discrimination, falsely claiming that trans women “threaten” women’s sports competitions. In reality, policies scrutinizing whether girls and women are “feminine enough” perpetuate sexist and racist stereotypes that harm all girls and women, especially Black and brown girls and women and intersex women (who have natural variations in sex-linked traits.) The systemic inequities that exist in women’s sports are overwhelmingly caused by leaders and policymakers denying equal resources and funding for women’s sports, and full inclusion of all women in public life relies on remedying these issues while also including and supporting LGBTQI+ women. For more on the case, please read our blog.