Superior Court of Justice authorizes transgender girl to participate in skating championship.

ConJur - Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Napoleão Maia Nunes Junior has recognized the jurisdiction of the 2nd Civil Court of São Paulo to hear the case of a transgender girl who was prevented from participating in a skating championship. This means the decision of the ordinary courts authorizing her participation in the competition will stand. The Federal Public Defender's Office acted in the case.

According to the minister, the sports entities under analysis do not fit the concepts of federal public entity or international organization.
With the recognition of its competence, it will be up to the state judge to reinstate the preliminary injunction. The event organizers had denied the girl's participation in the female category, but there was a conflict of jurisdiction between the common and federal courts. The federal judge had denied jurisdiction to hear the case.

According to the minister, the state judge had granted the injunction allowing her to compete, but the federal court had not. The minister argued that the sports entities in question do not fit the definitions of a federal public entity or an international organization.

"Therefore, according to the interpretation consolidated by the court, the restrictive jurisdiction of the Federal Court to process and judge the original action cannot be recognized. At first glance, jurisdiction lies with the State Court, which, incidentally, had granted the preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiff," it says.

The minister's decision overturns an injunction that prevented 11-year-old Maria Joaquina Cavalcanti Reikdall from participating in the South American Artistic Skating Championship this Monday (April 22).

Maria Joaquina is a transgender child who was prevented from competing in the international category despite finishing second in the Brazilian championship, which guaranteed her an automatic spot in the South American competition. The girl was not selected, under the justification that she is a transgender child, and her parents appealed to the courts.

The South American Confederation argued that athlete registrations are based on sex assigned at birth, with identity documents confirming the category to which they belong: male identity registration, male category; female identity registration, female category. According to the organization, "this concept is not open to dispute." The legal process to rectify Maria Joaquina's name has been ongoing since last year, with no decision yet.