Montreal, Canada
— Sports officials expect at least 50
transgender athletes at this summer's Outgames
<http://www.montreal2006.org/>
in Montreal. Organizers have worked out a policy to
include them in all sports, for the first time at an
international competition.
The transgender athletes
also compete in mainstream competitions, according to
Rachel Corbett, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian
International Sport Association <http://www.glisa.org/>.
"We have on Canadian
national teams, individuals who are competing in a gender
other than the one they were born into," Corbett
said.
Canadian transgender
cyclists Kristen Worley and Michelle Dumaresq
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Dumaresq>
made headlines when they fought to compete as women in
international competitions.
For the past five months,
Corbett has been working with officials from the Canadian
Olympic Committee <http://www.olympic.ca/>
and national team athletes to develop a policy on
transgender competition.
She says they'll test a
new policy at this summer's Outgames.
"This is our first time
and we're going learn things at the Outgames here in
Montreal this summer and we're going to make refinements
and improvements to our technical policy as we go
forwards to next World Outgames," Corbett
said.
Corbett hopes to
implement the policy in mainstream sport, as
well.
She says transgender
athletes will have to provide an official government
document or doctor's note affirming their new gender.
They'll also have to prove their sexual transition took
place at least two years ago.
The 1st World Outgames
will be held from July 26 to Aug. 5, 2006, on 40 sites
around Montreal, including the Olympic Stadium, the
Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard and the Parc
Jean-Drapeau.
The Outgames are open to
any athlete, not just homosexuals.
Aside from athletic
competition in 35 sports, the games will include six
different cultural activities and an international
conference on human rights.
