A natural-born female powerlifting competitor says she is “outraged” and “hurt” that a Minnesota judge is forcing USA Powerlifting to allow biological men to compete against women.
Canadian powerlifter April Hutchinson spoke to Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on Wednesday and blasted the court order forcing USA Powerlifting to lift its ban on transgender “women” competing against women.
“We’re outraged. We’re angry. We’re hurt. We’re offended. We’re basically every emotion except for happy,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson added that her fellow female competitors are fearful of speaking out against this outrage because of the cancel culture leftists. But she is not afraid to speak out, and she says she is told by many that they support her efforts to raise awareness.
(Steve Cole/Getty Images)
“There was times where I couldn’t sleep at night. I’ve been battling this for about two years now,” Hutchinson continued. “Women are coming out … saying, ‘Thank you so much for standing up for women in sports.’
“A lot of women are silenced and feel silenced and that they have no voice, or they’re afraid to speak up in fear of maybe getting kicked out of the federation, to be called names for backlash. But, no, we’re growing stronger and louder, and the amount of support is overwhelming, actually,” she concluded.
The court order comes on the heels of a court win by 34-year-old transgender weightlifter JayCee Cooper who sued USA Powerlifting over its trans ban.
Cooper launched a nearly five-year campaign to force the powerlifting organization to dump its ban and began sending demanding letters and suing the sport in 2019 after the sports authority denied his bid to compete as a woman. Cooper filed a lawsuit in state court in 2021 and has now won against the organization based on a Minnesota state anti-discrimination law that maintains he can compete under his “chosen gender.”
Cooper says he “transitioned” to being a woman back in 2014 and that he takes an anti-androgen drug that substantially decreases his testosterone.
"Marsha P. Johnson, and the Stonewall riots, and the plethora of Black trans advocates and activists throughout history—and the way they've led this fight—I am just one small piece that is built off of that," says @JayCeeIsAlive 💚 https://t.co/tGT4A9112Y
— Gender Justice (@GenderJustice) March 1, 2023
Late last month, District Court Judge Patrick Diamond, appointed to the bench by liberal Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton in 2012, ruled in favor of Cooper’s attack on USA Powerlifting.
“By denying Cooper the right to participate in the female category, the category consistent with her self-identification, USAPL denied her the full and equal enjoyment of the services, support, and facilities USAPL offered its members,” Diamond wrote in his ruling. “It separated Cooper and segregated her and, in doing so, failed to fully perform the contractual obligations it agreed to when it accepted Cooper’s money and issued Cooper a membership card.”
USA Powerlifting said that it banned trans athletes because of fairness and safety concerns.
“Our position has been aimed at balancing the needs of cis- and transgender women whose capacities differ significantly in purely strength sports,” USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile said in a statement, according to Fox News.
The judge, though, cited an “increased risk of depression and suicide, lack of access to coaching and practice facilities, or other performance suppression common to transgender persons” as competitive disadvantages for transgender athletes.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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