You may have heard about the Minnesota state court decision ruling that USA Powerlifting must permit the male trans athlete JayCee Cooper to compete as a woman. The decision has been widely reported in the national press. NRO’s Ari Braff, for example, has a story on it here. It is a story that has been reported in outlets including the New York Post, Fox News, NBC News, and UnHerd.
Cooper asserted claims of discrimination against USA Powerlifting under Minnesota civil rights law for not letting him compete as a woman. Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond’s 46-page opinion is accessible online here. Judge Diamond holds USA Powerlifting liable for violating Cooper’s rights under Minnesota civil rights law. He reserves only the question of damages for trial.
You may not have heard about the decision if you get your news from Minnesota’s Star Tribune. As far as I can tell from using its search engine, the Star Tribune has not gotten around to reporting the JayCee Cooper decision on its news pages.
It hasn’t ignored the case entirely. It has published Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve’s column “Ruling is a powerful lift for transgender rights” on the editorial pages.
Reeve’s column is not a news story. It is an opinion column. It is deficient as an opinion column, however, insofar as it fails to make an argument. It assumes that which is to be proved, i.e., it begs the question. It simply celebrates the madness.
It might have been interesting to get Reeve’s thoughts on the rights of men to play with women in the WNBA. For some reason or other, however, she doesn’t go there.
I think that anyone in his right mind would find Judge Diamond’s decision a lift too far. If the Star Tribune had reported the decision in a story, it might have felt obligated to track down someone with an opposing opinion. That someone might note the insanity underlying the decision and the transformation of the trans madness into a civil rights cause a sign of the (sick) times.
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