As Dallas prepares to host a USA Powerlifting (USAPL) competition, women’s sports advocates held a press conference to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of letting biological males participate in women’s competitions.
ICONS USA Powerlifting Press Conference https://t.co/1WnVAmTaK8
— ICONS (@icons_women) June 12, 2023
USA Powerlifting was joined by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) and several athletes to urge greater protections for women’s sports.
Dr. Larry Maile, the president of USAPL, provided updates regarding the organization’s ongoing litigation in Minnesota. In 2021, Minnesota-based powerlifter JayCee Cooper, a biological male, sued the USAPL for discrimination under Minnesota law for refusing to permit the lifter to compete against biological females instead of biological males.
In February, a Minnesota district court ordered USAPL “to submit a revised policy with respect to transgender participation.” In March, USAPL informed the court that it would be “deferring the submission of a revised policy for transgender women” based on its appeal of the court’s decision.
On April 15, USAPL announced on its website that it had been “ordered [by the judge in the case] … to cease doing business in Minnesota … to suspend competitions in Minnesota and cease selling memberships to Minnesota residents.”
Maile said that USAPL would appeal the case all the way up to the Supreme Court if necessary.
“As some of you may well know, USA Powerlifting is involved in a lawsuit in Minnesota and has been for approximately four years,” Maile explained. “The issue being contested is one of whether transgender women should be in the women’s division and whether in so doing that creates a fundamental unfairness for women.”
Maile detailed the organization’s rationale for maintaining the traditional standards for women’s powerlifting.
“We asked the question of how we balance inclusion and fairness,” he explained. “If we include transgender women in the women’s division, what would the impact be? … [I]s there really a difference between men and women in terms of specifically powerlifting performance?”
After conducting a study of over 17,000 lifters, Maile said, “We found that men outperformed women in powerlifting, depending on how you analyze the data, between 45% and 65%. That’s how much stronger they are than women.”
Despite assisting in creating a separate division for trans-identifying people, USA Powerlifting was sued for discrimination.
Maile further said that despite the policy being virtually approved universally within the community, those who speak out in support of the biologically female-only division have “received threats and are characterized as bigots … threats to vocation, threats of association. They involved media attacks, and some of us have received physical or other threats directly.”
Nevertheless, Maile said he and the others with him would not stop defending women’s sports.
Introducing the women who would participate in the press conference, Maile added, “There’s a great deal of anger on their part. The anger is at the loss of opportunities. The anger is at the loss of history — a history that goes back to the development of women’s sports.”
“As a former coach of the women’s national team, it has been a long time coming for equality in terms of women’s sports, and so we’re angry about the loss of that hard work and that history to get to where we are today,” he concluded. “But more than that, they have a sense of personal loss … In short, they feel victimized.”
USAPL will hold the 2023 Equipped Nationals at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on June 17.
Marshi Smith, co-founder of ICONS and a former champion swimmer, spoke next and introduced the organization. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, ICONS has been active in advocating for equal treatment and fair treatment for biological females in sports.
Discussing the decision in Minnesota, Smith warned, “This case goes beyond this single sport. However, it goes even beyond women’s sports. … This radical erasure of an entire sport is a grave warning to other sports organizations that unless they’re willing to knowingly discriminate against women and girls at every age and every level, their beloved sport could be next.”
“We all understand the injustice of this,” she continued. “All of Minnesota’s girls are being targeted and mandated to accept sex discrimination in order to accommodate the preferences of one single male athlete.”
ICONS will be filing an amicus brief in support of USAPL’s case in the coming week, Smith said, adding, “We must fight right now.”
The next speaker was Canadian powerlifter April Hutchinson, who has been vocal in her objection to the country’s requirement that biological males be allowed to compete against biological females, as reported in The Dallas Express.
She explained how lifting had helped save her life from addiction and suicide, describing how the failure to protect women’s sports has had a direct negative effect on the sport. In retaliation, she said, she has received several disciplinary letters warning her to keep quiet and threatening her with suspension.
“As you can tell by my personal story, I need powerlifting as a way to help me … and I have so much fear and sadness thinking that it could be ripped away from me. But, in a sense, having this male-born athlete compete, it has already been taken away from me,” she continued.
“I ask anyone out there if you support fairness in women’s sports … please keep speaking up. Don’t be afraid, men and women, please use your voice because the discrimination against women needs to stop today,” Hutchinson concluded.
Taylor Silverman, a successful professional skateboarder, shared her experience of losing prize money and awards to biological males in her sport.
“I felt forced into silence, and my mental health was suffering because of it. Going through this was so confusing and upsetting. It was mentally tormenting, and the male athletes demanding to be included in our divisions argued that I must accept it because not doing so would hurt their feelings,” Silverman explained.
“But my feelings were never considered. The female athletes’ feelings and mental health did not matter to them. So I ask you, what about the women?” she continued. “Why are the detrimental effects on our mental health ignored, and female athletes are being made to feel completely worthless in a space that was supposedly created for us?”
“When we speak up about it, we’re told to shut up and deal with it,” Silverman said, explaining, “All of us who want to restore fair competition for female athletes are not anti-trans; we’re pro-woman.”
Several speakers from other sports also shared their testimonies and urged people to speak out on the subject.
Some groups have argued that excluding biological males who identify as women from women’s sports will have serious detrimental effects.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has claimed that “including trans athletes will benefit everyone.”
“Excluding women who are trans hurts all women,” the ACLU argues. “It invites gender policing that could subject any woman to invasive tests or accusations of being ‘too masculine’ or ‘too good’ at their sport to be a ‘real’ woman.”
“Further,” the civil rights group adds, excluding transgender women “reinforces stereotypes that women are weak and in need of protection,” while “including trans athletes will promote values of non-discrimination and inclusion.”
Texas has passed laws banning non-biological females from participating in school sports up to the collegiate level, as reported by The Dallas Express.
