Preamble

It is the goal of the Outgames to provide a sport experience where all athletes are able to compete in a safe and welcoming environment. Our priority is to find a balance to ensure that no person, regardless of birth gender, experiences discrimination at the Outgames while at the same time also ensuring that no person is disadvantaged in athletic competition.

GLISA and the Outgames have worked together to develop a policy to reflect this balance. We urge all participants, particularly those who have identified themselves as 'transgender' in the Outgames registration process, to become familiar with this policy.

Rachel Corbett
Executive Director
GLISA - Gay and Lesbian International
Sport Association
www.glisa.org

Policy on Transitioned and Transgender Athletes

Background

Sports competitions at the 1st World Outgames are sanctioned by provincial and national sport governing bodies. These bodies are required to conform with international rules as they apply to athletic competition within their jurisdiction.

In May 2004 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) published the Stockholm Consensus, a policy statement setting out the conditions under which individuals would be permitted to compete athletically in a gender different from their birth gender. The global
sport community has widely accepted this document as the best available guide for determining the eligibility of ‘transitioned’ athletes, or athletes who have undergone sex or gender reassignment.

However, the Stockholm Consensus has come under scrutiny in recent months, and in the December 2005 issue of The Lancet (366:S42-43), the Chair of the IOC Medical Commission and author of the Stockholm Consensus wrote:

The recommendations [of the Stockholm Consensus] were applicable only to competition in events sanctioned by the IOC and are not binding on other
international sports governing bodies and certainly not on the entire panoply of sporting events from local to international in scope.

It is also acknowledged that the Stockholm Consensus does not adequately address the situation of transitioned male athletes.

Policy Statement

1. It is GLISA’s vision that the Outgames are to provide an experience where all athletes are able to compete in a safe and welcoming environment, without discrimination of any kind. It is GLISA’s priority to find the appropriate balance to ensure that that no person (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or transitioned,
   regardless of birth gender) is disadvantaged in athletic competition, and at the same time that no person participating in the Outgames experiences discrimination.
   
   
2. This policy applies to all transitioned, transitioning and transgender athletes participating in the Outgames including those who self-identified as ‘transgender’ in the Outgames registration process.

Transitioned athletes

1. For the purposes of this policy, ‘transitioned’ persons are considered to be those persons who undergo sex or gender reassignment through surgery and/or hormone therapy. Transitioned individuals undergo physical, psychological and social transition to live their lives fully in their preferred gender.
   
   
2. Athletes may compete in their transitioned gender in single gender competition in the 1st World Outgames provided that they can confirm this gender through appropriate legal or medical documentations.
   
   
3. For the purposes of this policy, appropriate legal documentation is a valid passport. Appropriate medical documentation under this policy is a letter from the athlete’s physician indicating that the athlete has undergone hormone therapy for a minimum of two years as part of a process of gender transition.

Note to transitioned/transitioning male athletes: Transitioned or transitioning male athletes are cautioned that the administration of testosterone would constitute a doping offence under the Policy on Doping of GLISA, the 1st World Outgames and the World Anti-Doping Code. GLISA acknowledges that there are uncertainties as to how anti-doping rules will apply in the situation of transitioned males, and whether Therapeutic Use Exemptions (or TUEs) would be granted to allow such hormone therapy. Transitioned male athletes should review the GLISA/Outgames Policy on Doping and should contact the Outgames or GLISA for further guidance.

Transgender athletes

1. Individuals whose gender identity (or psychological identification as male or female)
   does not conform to stereotypical gender norms are referred to as ‘transgender'.
   
   
2. For the purposes of this policy, ‘transgender’ persons are considered to be those persons who have not pursued sex or gender reassignment through surgery and/or hormone therapy.
   
   
3. It is GLISA’s policy that transgender athletes registered in single gender competition in the 1st World Outgames must compete in their physical gender.

Exceptions

1. Athletes seeking to be exempted from the provisions of this policy may request that
   their circumstances be reviewed.
   
   
2. Such a review will be carried out by a three-person panel consisting of:
   
   
   • The Sports Director of the 1st World Outgames, or designate;
   • 1st World Outgames Medical Director, or designate;
   • The Chair of GLISA’s Sport Technical Committee, or designate.
     
     
3. The panel will review all information put forward by the athlete and will consider any unique circumstances presented by the athlete in making its determination.
   
   
4. The panel will conduct its review in a timely, discreet and confidential manner and its decision will be final and binding, and may not be appealed.

Other

1. No athlete in the 1st World Outgames may compete in more than one gender
   category.
   
   
2. GLISA will maintain a confidential record of any athlete admitted to sport competition under this policy, for recognition and use in future Outgames.
   
   
3. GLISA will use its experiences in implementing this policy during the 1st World Outgames to continue studying this matter in order to refine and improve policy for future Outgames.

For further information on this policy, please contact:

Michel Langelier
Sports Director, 1st World Outgames
mlangelier@montreal2006.org

Rachel Corbett
Executive Director, GLISA             
rachel.corbett@glisa.org

[This policy was approved by the Board of Directors of GLISA on 23 March 2006]

Reviewed 20 April 2006.