Transgender people face a mountain of prejudice in many fields, but there's finally some good news in the world of competitive sports. Cosmopolitan reports that when the governing body of competitive climbing, USA Climber, announced new intense, intrusive guidelines for trans participants, climbers decided that this was a hill to die on.
The new rules would have been especially onerous to younger climbers.
"A trans girl as young as 13 would have to come out publicly, find a psychiatrist to diagnose her with gender dysphoria so she could begin medical transition, continue hormone replacement therapy or puberty blockers for at least a year to manage her testosterone levels, disclose her highly sensitive personal and medical information to a sports organization, get regular, expensive testing, and also focus on the craft of her sport and still, somehow, have fun."
Clinging fiercely to the belief that climbing is for everyone, trans climbing coach Kristen Fiore organized opponents into TCB, Trans Climbers Belong and took care of business. They reached out to gym owners, participants, and parents, and collected 11,000 signatures from an online petition, asking for a voice in determining guidelines.
Just ten days later, USAC announced they were putting the policy on hold.
"The reality is that a lot of people were forced to listen because the community came together and backed trans climbers and said, 'No, this is not going to fly.' And I think that put pressure that USAC could not ignore," says Fiore.
Previously: These real-life stories of trans teen athletes are incredibly mundane, and that's awesome
