I first read about the absurd case of JayCee Cooper v. USA Powerlifting in the March 1 Star Tribune op-ed column by Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve celebrating the court’s decision in the case. Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond has found USA Powerlifting to be in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act by separating the men from the women in its weightlifting competitions.
In her Star Tribune column Reeve omitted any discussion of the possible participation of male trans athletes in the WNBA. I wonder if she’s thinking her way through to a WNBA championship anchored by athletes who might be more equal than the biological women to which she has otherwise limited her roster. I’m not sure she sees all the possibilities Judge Diamond has opened up for her. For some reason or other she left that angle unexplored in her column.
I have tried to shine a spotlight on Judge Diamond’s ruling and related order in this series of posts. Caroline Downey covered the case in her April 21 NRO news story “Judge Forces USA Powerlifting to Cancel Minnesota Events over Policy Barring Males from Female Division” (unfortunately, behind NRO’s paywall). Downey’s story opens:
A Minnesota judge issued a ruling last week [now the week before] that blocked USA Powerlifting from hosting tournaments in the state over its decision to prohibit males from competing in the female division.
The order is part of an ongoing two-year legal battle and comes after the court mandated in February that USAPL change its “Transgender Participation Policy” to allow male inclusion in the female category within two weeks or face repercussions.
The court demanded USAPL “cease and desist” from this “unfair discriminatory practice.”
When the organization refused, the court ordered it to withdraw from Minnesota, canceling upcoming Central and Midwest Regionals, which were scheduled for May 27 and May 28. The ruling applies to all business in the state, also forbidding the USAPL from selling memberships to Minnesota residents.
We first heard about the shutdown order from a Power Line reader who was training for an August competition that is now in limbo thanks to Judge Diamond. When I was unable to find the order in the case via Minnesota Court Records Online, I tracked down the lawyers for USA Powerlifting. They told me that Judge Diamond promulgated his order orally in court on April 11. He has not yet gotten around to putting it in writing. So far as I know, we and NRO are the only outlets to have reported on Judge Diamond’s mad dictator routine.
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