After the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled USA Powerlifting discriminated against a trans-identifying male athlete, the organization stands by its policy.
USA Powerlifting says its decision to exclude a trans-identifying male athlete from the women’s division comes down to one thing — science.
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that USA Powerlifting discriminated against JayCee Cooper, a biological male barred from women’s competition, but the organization will still get to defend its policy in a lower court.
Attorney Ansis Viksnins, who is representing USAPL, spoke exclusively with OutKick following the ruling.
“Our policy is based on the indisputable fact that men are generally stronger than women,” Viksnins told OutKick. “If you’ve gone through puberty as a male, you are inherently bigger and stronger than someone who’s gone through puberty as a female.”
The court’s decision was split: Justices ruled that USA Powerlifting violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Act by discriminating based on gender identity, but also determined that the organization may be able to justify its actions under a “legitimate business purpose” defense. That part of the case will now proceed to trial.
Essentially, the court said USAPL was guilty of discrimination, but might have had a lawful reason for it.
“It seems inherently contradictory, doesn’t it?” Viksnins said. “The same legitimate reasons apply across the board, but the court says they matter for one part of the case and not the other.”
That legal contradiction, he says, ignores basic biology.
‘The Science Is Just Not On Their Side’
According to expert reports submitted in the case, biological males maintain a performance advantage of around 60 percent over females, even after testosterone suppression.
“Our opponents really don’t have any scientific data to challenge the extent of the strength advantage,” Viksnins said. “They just rely on what I would call pseudo-science — or pseudo social science — that transgender women have endured all kinds of hardships in their life because of societal disapproval or bias, and that somehow mitigates the physical strength advantages.”
He added: “I think that’s a silly and ridiculous argument because it’s not based on any objective documentation or quantification of strength.”
USA Powerlifting cited two of the world’s leading researchers on transgender athletics. Their studies show that suppressing testosterone reduces the advantage by only about 10 percent.
“This has nothing to do with her gender identity, her transgender status,” Viksnins said, referring to Cooper. “It has everything to do with her physiology, the fact that she went through puberty as a male and that she’s bigger and stronger than the other people in the women’s division, which gives her an unfair competitive advantage.”
USA Powerlifting Policy: Inclusive, But Still Fair
USA Powerlifting created an “MX Division” in 2021 to accommodate trans-identifying and nonbinary athletes — a move the organization says reflects its commitment to making sure everyone can participate in the sport.
“They’re motivated to find a way to include transgender athletes,” Viksnins explained. “But not at the expense of completely dismantling competition categories. Because if you don’t have competition categories that make sense and put similarly situated people in the same groups, you’re not going to have fair or meaningful competition.”
RELATED: USA Powerlifting Slams Minnesota Court Ruling, Says It Forces Organization To Discriminate Against Women
And fairness is the point. As Viksnins explained, USAPL’s revenue depends entirely on dues and competition fees from members. So inclusion makes good business sense, as long as it doesn’t undermine the integrity of the sport.
The district court will now determine whether USA Powerlifting’s policy can be upheld under the “legitimate business purpose” defense allowed under Minnesota law.
“We’re very confident that we have a legitimate business purpose,” Viksnins said. “The scientific evidence is on our side, and quite frankly, common sense is on our side.”
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