Attorneys for JayCee Cooper, a man claiming to be a woman, are asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to let Cooper compete in the women's division at powerlifting events. They say he is protected against discrimination by the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
Back in 2018, USA Powerlifting rejected Cooper's application on the grounds of clear strength advantages over women. Cooper sued in 2021, and the court sided with him. The case went back to the trial court in March after an appeal. Now, he is taking the case to Minnesota's top court.
AFN spoke with Steve McConkey, president of 4 Winds USA, a worldwide sports ministry. He points out Cooper has been pursuing his objective for several years now. "And that just shows me that he's got some backing from the LGBTQ community – and he's trying to prove a point now," he adds.
McConkey continues: "[He is] probably really not even totally interested in powerlifting …. I think he's more interested in just winning some lawsuits and to be able to prop himself up into an individual who is a champion in women's sports."
Biological males possess obvious physical advantages over women – more muscle power and larger hearts, for example. "[So] they're able to do a lot more things, particularly in weightlifting," McConkey points out. "This is a disgrace … and shows that there's no boundaries here."
The important thing to do is to keep fighting this – even into the courts, he adds. McConkey is hopeful the incoming Trump administration is going to reverse much of the recently changed gender guidelines in sports.
"We have 26 states that have stopped this," he concludes. "If this is not stopped, in the long run this can create a real problem and actually change powerlifting to the point that you won't even know that there's a woman's competition."
That is indeed the case, according to USA Powerlifting president Larry Maile, who stated: "If male-born powerlifters can compete against female-born athletes, we have not only failed in our responsibility to provide fair competition for our women competitors, but we have thrown the door wide open to eliminating other category distinctions such as age and weight."
