YOU can be a voice in the USA Climbing’s new trans athlete participation policy.
As part of the rewriting process of USA Climbing’s new trans athlete participation policy and with the support of Trans Climbers Belong, USAC has hired an all-trans team of facilitators to host three listening sessions to gather perspectives what trans-inclusive policy could look like.
Notes and data from these sessions will be used to generate a report by an all-trans team for USA Climbing to review prior to starting on their new policy.
From USA Climbing:
“As part of USA Climbing’s evaluation of our Transgender Athlete Participation (TAP) Policy and our commitment to supporting the needs of trans individuals in our climbing community, USAC is working with a 3rd-party facilitation team to conduct a series of Listening Sessions. This process is being organized and led by trans individuals, and USAC will not have access to any participant names or identifying information.”
The facilitation team is looking for participants who meet at least one of the following requirements:
Is a coach who, to the best of your knowledge, currently or recently has coached trans, nonbinary, and/or intersex climber(s).
2. Is a trans, nonbinary, and/or intersex climber (competitors preferred), comp route setter, coach, judge, or USAC belayer. (Must be at least 12 years of age.)
3. Is a parent or guardian of trans, nonbinary, and/or intersex climber(s).
If you meet at least one of the above requirements and are interested in participating in these Listening Sessions, CLICK HERE for more info!
Trans climbers belong in our community and at all levels of competition.
In October 2023, USA Climbing made sweeping changes to their Transgender Participation policies. These change were made without vetting or approval of their committees, and were ultimately harmful to trans athletes — resulting in an outright ban for many climbers.
Since that time, USA Climbing has paused their TAP Policy, and has engaged Trans Climbers Belong in a new process and a new policy. We applaud USA Climbing for these efforts, and will continue to advocate for trans inclusion in competitive climbing through this process and beyond. The issues with the original TAP Policy as outlined in this website will be the focus of our work in advising USA Climbing in how to create a fair, safe, and protective policy for Trans Athlete Participation.
As updates arrive, we will continue to update our community.
-Trans Climbers Belong (April 19, 2024)
Why was TAPP harmful?
As is the case with many trans athlete policies, USA Climbing’s policy had focused predominantly on transfemme athletes undergoing hormone replacement therapy. As is often the case with policy like this, they are shortsighted, lacking context, and fixated on testosterone levels. In its release, USA Climbing cited narrow studies, and had not taken input from the larger community. Over the past months, the climbing community has stood up and come together to ask USA Climbing for a new policy. USA Climbing has agreed. In December, TAPP was paused. Over the past several months, this policy is being reviewed and rewritten.
While in previous policy, no trans voices were considered or listened to in the creation of these policies, Trans Climbers Belong are now in active collaboration with USA Climbing to imagine a better policy. While the details are yet to be determined, we remain optimistic of the direction this process is heading.
For more information, see our in-depth explanation of How USA Climbing’s Original TAP Policy Was Harmful to Trans Athletes and how they Exclude Trans Climbers Through Logistical Barriers. You can read USA Climbing’s policy and requirements here.
Ways to Support
Photo by Abby Crisostomo
Whether you are an athlete, parent, coach, route setter, gym manager, or gym staff, there are ways you can help support the reversal of these policies. Click any of the below links to see how your position in the community can be beneficial!
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