I'm a few days late posting about the Olympics. This was, in every way, the most out of the ordinary Summer Games I can recall. Of course there was all of the challenges caused by COVID. But amidst all of those challenges it's easy to overlook that this was a big year of LGBTQ+ Olympians.
Clearly there have always been LGBTQ+ Olympians. But due to the cultures of the host cities, or the dominant viewpoints of the times, and many other factors the number of visible and out LGBTQ+ athletes has been small.
That number has steadily grown in recent years, but the Summer Games that just concluded featured more visible and out LGBTQ+ athletes than all of the previous Summer Games combined.
All told, according to Outsports, there were over 180 out athletes across a wide range of sports.
From soccer to weightlifting, from skateboarding to rowing, from judo to track and field and so much more, LGBTQ athletes were present and showing their prowess and their place in sport.
Image: Made in Canva
I'm a strength coach, I'm a martial artist, I'm a powerlifter. I have a very narrow appreciation of sports and I'm not a sports fan in general. However, I appreciate the cultural influence that athletes have. Athletics are an important way for marginalized communities to influence the discussion about human rights.
The more vocal and influential those voices are, the more positive change occurs in the world from a human rights perspective. Athletes are often able to reach hearts and minds that others cannot, and inspire them to noble action.
As someone who has trained athletes up to a national level and competed myself at a state level, and as someone who is transgender, the debate about transgender athletes' place in sport is one that I pay some attention to. Because trans athletes belong in sport. Period.
I was thrilled to see there were transgender and non-binary people competing in the Tokyo Games. While transgender people do not have any clear advantage in sport, and do not pose a threat to the safety of other athletes, these are talking points that we hear a lot from folks who want to keep LGBTQ people oppressed.
The more we see examples of transgender people in high levels of sport, the more evidence will mount that there are no issues of fairness or safety involved in letting transgender people compete. This can only serve to further increase the number of visible trans athletes, which will make transgender people more well understood in the greater community as well. This is a good thing.
I think that we'll continue to see more and more LGBTQ people openly compete. I hope that this helps to lead to more acceptance and rights for LGBTQ people across the globe. And I hope that it sheds light on how diverse and how powerful LGBTQ people are.
