Workshop at Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference

co-facilitated with Trans Climbers Belong

Since 2021, legislation and policy restricting trans athletes’ access in recreational, scholastic, and elite-level sports have been rapidly passing. When USA Climbing, the national governing body for competitive rock climbing, implemented new restrictions that effectively banned trans, nonbinary, and intersex competitors from participation, a group of trans climbers said ‘enough’ and fought back.

Within a month, USA Climbing paused their policy. Within six months, they announced the inclusion of trans climbers in their rewriting process. In this workshop, Trans Climbers Belong presents their strategies, lessons learned, and advice to help equip others who want to create impactful change in their own communities but do not know where to start or how to effectively do it without the support of brand sponsors or well-known athletes.