Support Trans Players: No Testing, No Exclusion — For a Sport That Respects Trans People

Sport should be a space for empowerment, community and freedom. Everyone should be able to play, run, swim, fight, dance, train, win, lose, join a team, wear a jersey and find their place.

Yet for many trans, non-binary and intersex people, sport remains an excluding, suspicious and controlled environment. Too often, our right to participate is challenged before we even have the chance to take part. Too often, our bodies are treated as a case to investigate, a test result or an exception to manage, rather than as human lives deserving dignity and respect.

The International Olympic Committee’s decision to introduce an eligibility policy involving genetic screening from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games represents a serious step backwards. It risks normalising the policing of athletes’ bodies worldwide, targeting trans and intersex athletes, as well as any cisgender woman whose body does not conform to imposed standards of femininity.

This decision is part of a broader movement towards exclusion, already visible in the United States, where restrictive policies have limited the participation of trans women and girls in women’s and girls’ sports. We refuse to let these measures become a model for international and national federations, clubs or teams or for the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in France.

We reject the idea that the inclusion of trans, non-binary and intersex people poses a threat. We reject the use of “protecting women’s sport” as a pretext to monitor, humiliate or exclude women and gender-diverse people. We reject the return of so-called “femininity tests”, whether medical, hormonal, chromosomal or genetic.

The French government, host authorities, public and private funders, sports federations and clubs all have a responsibility to ensure that the 2030 Winter Games and sport at every level become levers for inclusion.

We call on:

1. The International Olympic Committee, Olympic and Paralympic governing bodies, and sports federations to reject compulsory medical, chromosomal, hormonal or genetic testing as a condition of eligibility or participation.
2. The IOC to reverse the exclusionary policy due to take effect at LA28 and guarantee that it will not be extended, reinforced or applied at the 2030 Winter Games in France. Its implementation in France, especially through SRY genetic testing, would also face serious legal obstacles under French bioethics law, the French Civil Code, the right to privacy and the principle of non-discrimination.
3. International sports federations to suspend any rule excluding trans, non-binary or intersex people on the basis of their gender identity, sex characteristics or compulsory biological testing.
4. National sports federations to adopt inclusive regulations grounded in non-discrimination, proportionality, dignity, bodily integrity and the meaningful participation of the people directly affected.
5. Clubs, teams, leagues and other sports organisations to guarantee trans, non-binary and intersex people effective access to sport at both competitive and recreational levels.
6. Governments, ministries, regional and local authorities, and public institutions to make funding, accreditation, partnership agreements and access to public sports facilities conditional on compliance with clear non-discrimination and inclusion standards.
7. Private funders, sponsors, foundations and sports partners to refuse financial support to organisations that exclude or stigmatise trans, non-binary and intersex athletes.
8. Everyone working in sport to train officials, coaches, referees, medical staff and volunteers to prevent and address transphobic, anti-intersex and sexist discrimination.
9. Sports institutions to strengthen monitoring, reporting and redress mechanisms for athletes who experience discrimination—including, in France, through Signal-Sports and the Defender of Rights.
10. Everyone involved in sport to recognise one simple principle: no one should be excluded, humiliated or subjected to scrutiny because of their gender, body or identity.

Sport must not be a space where people are sorted and segregated.

Sport must not be a space of suspicion.

Sport must not be a space where bodies are policed.

We call on civil society organisations, clubs, teams, athletes, collectives, federations, public authorities, elected representatives, funders, foundations, public figures and individuals everywhere to sign this petition and join the Support Trans Players movement.

For inclusive sport.

For the end compulsory testing.

For the rights of trans, non-binary and intersex people in sport and beyond.

So that the 2030 Winter Games in France are remembered not for exclusion, but for dignity.