A record number of athletes openly identifying as LGBTQ+ are competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, a massive leap during a competition that organizers have pushed to center around inclusion and diversity.

There are 191 athletes publicly saying they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary who are participating in the Games, according to Outsports, an organization that compiles a database of openly queer Olympians. The vast majority of the athletes are women.

That number has quashed the previous record of 186 out athletes counted at the COVID-19-delayed Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, and the count is only expected to grow at future Olympics.

“More and more people are coming out,” said Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports. “They realize it’s important to be visible because there’s no other way to get representation.”

    • Dimantina@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      1.7% Roughly. 191/11000, as that was the closest estimate.

      As a population the estimate is 5% of people so probability there are almost twice as many athletes who are in the closet then those who are out.

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I imagine at least a half of the countries participating in the Olympics being morbidly bad at LGBTQ+ rights and that a biggoted campaign against a sportsperson can cost them their entire career or life adds to the reasons why there’re more of them we don’t see. They phut Muh Mutherland to shame! is a big target to put on someone’s back if not for the state, but for it’s most reactionary citizen.

        I don’t know if this specific group has the same distribution of LGBTQ+ folks as the general population, but as a second thought I’m sure the amount of persons being aware of their own sexuality and gender identity or learning them can top their own nation’s metrics because of the exposure to the international sports scene.

      • vxx@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Maybe some of them aren’t in the closet but have never been asked.

    • UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Most cis sportswomen have naturally elevated “masculine” hormones. Trans women see many physical changes (like fat redistribution and changes in muscle n fat mass) after commencing hormone therapy. Therefore, the “advantage” that they have over cis women is negligible. It is in fact comparable to the advantage that some cis women have over other cis women (the hormone thing that I mentioned in my first sentence).

      But no, being assholes towards trans people is cool, and there clearly aren’t other issues to worry about. /s

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Recently I read that for men who have gone through puberty, their hitting strength is 162% of that of women. So seems like some things do give you a massive advantage. But I guess that’s why they have those gender rules for boxing at least.

      • ichbinjasokreativ@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        There is an undeniable trend of mtf athletes breaking female records. Trying to hide from that does noone any good.

        • gmtom@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Trans athletes have been accepted in the Olympics since 2004, yet not a single one has so much as qualified for a games since then, despite having such a “big advantage”

          And globally the only trans person to ever get a professional title was a div 1 swimmer in the US.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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          5 months ago

          So you’re not female if you have Swyer Syndrome.

          In Swyer syndrome, individuals have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome in each cell, which is the pattern typically found in boys and men; however, they have female reproductive structures.

          People with Swyer syndrome have female external genitalia and some female internal reproductive structures. These individuals usually have a uterus and fallopian tubes, but their gonads (ovaries or testes) are not functional. Instead, the gonads are small and underdeveloped and contain little gonadal tissue. These structures are called streak gonads.

          Not a woman, right? Despite not even being able to tell even when you see them naked, right?

          How about XXY people? Men or women? Because they usually look like men, but at least one got pregnant.

              • ichbinjasokreativ@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Your own quote tells me that people with chromosomal abnormalities tend to be sterile, so no. XX makes you a woman. XY makes you a man. Abnormalities are just that, abnormal. Trans people have problems and cutting them up is not the solution.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                  4 months ago

                  That is not how science works. There is not “exception to the rule” in science. That’s not how it works. If you can’t come up with a scientific definition that biologists agree with you on, just admit it. None of you seem to be able to. You think you know the science, but you can’t back it up.