At least 38 LGBTQ+ athletes are participating in the Paralympic Games
Lesbian and bisexual women make up the majority. And Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo seeks to be a symbol of trans representation in Paralympic sport.
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According to the OutSports , at least 38 openly LGBTQ+ athletes living with disabilities are participating in the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Lesbian and bisexual women make up the majority. Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo is seeking to become a symbol of trans representation in Paralympic sport. The Games are being held from August 28 to September 8.
From Latin America there is only Mexican representation by triathlete Brenda Osnaya, and from Brazil there are 8 athletes participating, all diverse women.
“inclusive and accessible” Olympic and Paralympic Games . A total of 4,400 athletes are participating in these Paralympics, and almost half (45%) are women. Among them is Valentina Petrillo, an Italian trans athlete who will compete in the T12 athletics event.
Athletics events for visually impaired athletes are classified as T11 and T12/T13. In the T11 category, athletes are blindfolded and compete with a guide runner. In the T12/T13 category, they can be accompanied by a guide or compete individually.
“I want to become a symbol of a world that is rebelling. I believe that in the future we need examples like mine (…) I run as a woman, I am going to do what I have always dreamed of. I am convinced that this will lead to something,” Valentina Petrillo told this media outlet .
Valentina Petrillo, the only trans athlete to participate in Paris 2024
Valentina Petrillo is the second transgender athlete to participate in the Paralympic Games. The first was Dutch discus thrower Ingrid van Kranen. In Rio 2016, she finished ninth in the final, and her participation had little impact worldwide.
Petrillo is 50 years old and came out as a trans woman in 2017. But it was only last year that the Italian government recognized her gender identity on her official documents. Prior to Paris 2024, she won two bronze medals in the 200 and 400 meters in the women's category at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
“My participation in the World Paralympic Championships in Paris was an important moment. It brought to the public’s attention the symbolic value of my presence. We still live in a society steeped in discrimination against people with disabilities and the LGBTQI+ community,” she told the Spanish news outlet 20 minutos.
Petrillo's participation has been questioned, especially by other athletes. But she hasn't faced the same level of harassment and scrutiny as other athletes like South African sprinter Caster Semenya, or more recently, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif . Neither of them is a trans woman. They were falsely targeted, and this led to transphobic narratives.
The Para-Athletics Federation does not prohibit the participation of trans athletes
In the Paralympic Games, the guarantee of fair competition is not based on the gender identity of the athletes. Participation categories are determined by the severity of their disability and its effect on their ability to compete in each sport.
In Petrillo's case, her participation is regulated by World Para Athletics, the governing body for athletics for athletes with disabilities. According to its regulations , "any person legally recognized as a woman is eligible to compete in the category according to her disability."
Furthermore, regarding the participation of trans athletes, it mentions that it adheres to the guidelines set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
In November 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) published a new “ framework on equity, inclusion and non-discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sex variations” with a central role in the eligibility criteria in the female categories.
The document states that "there is no scientific consensus on how testosterone affects performance in sports, and the role it plays in measuring unfair advantage is unclear because performance is measured differently in each sport."
Accusations and suspicions
German athlete Katrin Müller-Rottgard, who competes in the same category as Petrillo, recently told the tabloid Bild , "(Petrillo) has lived and trained as a man for a long time, so there's a possibility that the physical demands are different for him than for someone born female. This could give him an advantage."
Unlike the para-athletics federation, World Athletics, the governing body for the participation of able-bodied athletes in athletics at the global and Olympic levels, has one of the strictest regulations on the participation of trans women , intersex women, and those athletes who naturally develop high levels of testosterone.
According to a investigation , since at least the 1940s, “sex tests” have been conducted on female athletes suspected of not being women. The UN has described these tests as “humiliating, discriminatory, and a violation of human rights.” They carry a deep racist bias, as the athletes historically most affected by these rules are women of color and from countries in the Global South.
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