Los Angeles Olympics: Transgender and intersex people excluded. Arcigay: "Sport betrayed by exclusionary rules. A step backwards from Olympic values."“
Bologna, March 28, 2026 The Arcigay Sports group expresses deep concern and firm opposition to the new admission criteria for the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics, which aim to systematically exclude transgender and intersex people: "Sport is thus being betrayed by exclusionary rules that take us back from Olympic values.".
“In recent years – explain the activists – and in particular since the Olympics in In Tokyo, the Olympic movement led by the International Olympic Committee had embarked on a clear and courageous path toward a more inclusive, equitable, and respectful sport. The guidelines promoted by the IOC did not impose rigid models, but recognized the complexity of sport: each international federation was
The associations were called upon to analyze the specificities of their disciplines, assessing on a case-by-case basis how to ensure fair competitions without denying the fundamental right to participation. This approach represented an advanced balance between sporting performance and the right to sport: on the one hand, the protection of competition, on the other, the concrete opening to participation by the greatest possible number of athletes. The new guidelines, they continue, instead go in the opposite direction. The introduction of a single criterion, transversal to all disciplines, is on the horizon. sports disciplines, based primarily on hormonal and biochemical parameters: The SRY gene test. A choice that completely ignores the diversity between sports, categories, performance levels, and required physical characteristics. There is no single variable in degree To determine the fairness of competition, each sport has its own specific characteristics. Transforming a technical issue into a political decision is unacceptable. This is not a measure to ensure fairness: it is a measure that produces exclusion. Sport, by its nature, is made up of differences: genetic, physical, physiological. It is precisely in the intelligent regulation of these differences that sporting justice is built. The imposition of
A uniform criterion, without distinction between disciplines, does not safeguard competition: it simplifies it arbitrarily, penalizing certain categories of athletes. Transgender and intersex people are thus transformed from athletes into a problem to be eliminated. Sporting equity is not built through generalized exclusions, but through rules. specific, proportionate, and evidence-based, developed in dialogue with the scientific and sports community. We ask that we return to the principle already affirmed by the Committee. International Olympic: each sport has its own characteristics, and only through an analysis It is possible to guarantee fair competitions on time without denying the right to sport.".
