Hey TCB! What’s going on?
August 12, 2025:
At the end of last month the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) made the decision to comply with Executive Order 14201, banning trans women from competing in the women’s division for all olympic teams. Because of this, all National Governing Bodies (NGB) will be required to comply with this order or face being decertified as an olympic governing body. It is worth noting in this that for some NGB, decertification like this would largely jeopardize the existence of the governing body entirely. At this time, we are working with USA Climbing to figure out ways to support trans climbers while we strategize ways to challenge USOPCs decision.
In 2023 USA Climbing distributed their Trans Athlete Participation (TAP) Policy. When it was announced, Trans Climbers Belong was formed as a means of opposing this policy with a goal of convincing USAC to pause their policy and include trans, intersex, and nonbinary climbers in the writing of a new policy. After several months of work, USA Climbing approached Trans Climbers Belong to begin a process of collaboration that has continued on to today. In the end, three trans, nonbinary, and/or intersex climbers (including two trans women and one member of Trans Climbers Belong) were brought in to work directly with USA Climbing to work on their new TAP Policy. A historic first for National Governing Bodies.
As we look ahead, we are continuing to work with USA Climbing. Our understanding of this situation is that it is a heartbreaking decision by USOPC to cave to the interests of an administration that is guided by pseudo-science and hateful identity politics over a sense of fairness and support for all women, but that USA Climbing is left with little choice but to comply. Furthermore, USA Climbing has agreed to continue working with the TAPP writer’s team to finish out the policy they were working on, publish the work that has been done, continue to find ways to support trans athletes within the world of climbing, and will support acts of protest and showings of support at USAC competitions. It is with these initiatives that TCB will focus our efforts.
We deeply appreciate the support from those who have reached out and urge those looking to join the efforts of our work to reach out to USOPC and voice your dissent. We will also be creating educational materials and resources for coaches, gyms, and athletes that will provide direction and advice for how to support trans climbers through this time.
Thank you all once again for supporting us as we enter this new chapter of our work to show the world that trans climbers belong everywhere. This website is due for updates and we will be working over the next few days to update it. If you see information about USA Climbing’s old TAP Policy they may be outdated, please bear with us while we update information to reflect our focus on the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision.
-Trans Climbers Belong
Trans climbers belong in our community and at all levels of competition.
April 19, 2024:
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
Why was the original 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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Featured 2023 Open Letters to USA Climbing
