LGBTQ+ Guide to The Paris Olympics and Paralympics 2024

After Tom Daley shared a photo of himself and five teammates in matching Team GB Speedos with the caption ‘six boys, 5 rings,’ it was safe to say the Olympics was well and truly back. So, ahead of the more-official start of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, we’ve written an LGBTQ+ guide to the upcoming games. After all, an event marked by a logo not too dissimilar to Claire’s haircut from Fleabag has a lot to live up to…

1. The vast majority of athletes on this year’s list of queer Olympians are women. In fact, lesbians and other queer women represent at least half of two teams: the U.S. women’s basketball team, where six of the 12 players are out, and the Australian women’s soccer team, where at least nine of the 18 players are out.

2. There are a record number of out male Olympians participating in the 2024 games.

3. The most decorated LGBTQ+ Olympian is British Paralympic equestrian Lee Pearson, with 17 medals - including 14 golds.

4. 40% of Americans say that “seeing LGBTQ Olympians make[s] them interested in local policies concerning LGBTQ athletes.”

5. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Laurel Hubbard made history as the first known transgender athlete to qualify to compete. Unfortunately, the International Weightlifting Federation and other sports federations have changed their eligibility guidelines, blocking transgender athletes from following in Hubbard’s footsteps.

6. At least 36 publicly out LGBTQ athletes competed in the Tokyo Summer Paralympics . The number was almost triple that of Rio.

7. In 1988, equestrian Robert Dover became the first Olympic athlete to compete as an openly gay man. Before him, Otto Peltzer - known as the first gay Olympic athlete - was arrested in 1934 on the charge of homosexuality, which prevented him from training and qualifying for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Peltzer was later sent to a Nazi concentration camp.

With at least 144 LGBTQ+ athletes competing in the Paris Olympics, there are lots of extremely talented queer Olympians worth watching this summer.

Despite queer athletes likely competing in the Olympics and Paralympics since the very first games, it’s important that each new host country makes the event as LGBTQ+ inclusive as possible - both for the athletes and the fans.

In 2021, the International Olympic Committee relaxed its rule which historically prevented athletes from making political, religious or other statements of belief or identity at the Olympics. As a result, many athletes wore rainbow colours at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Tony Estanguet, the organising committee president, has said that athletes in Paris will also be “free to speak and to share their messages” and “have equal opportunities to express themselves” when they're not competing.

Paris will also set up a Pride House, a safe and inclusive space created for LGBTQ+ athletes, fans and allies. This year’s space will be at the Rosa Bonheur sur Seine, a boat in the heart of Paris near the Eiffel Tower and other major tourist attractions. 

The first country to decriminalise same-sex relationships after the French Revolution in 1791, France’s capital city quickly became a beacon of queer culture. In fact, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, LGBTQ+ individuals flocked to Paris to reside in a more accepting European society - that being said, queer people still faced discrimination as it was discouraged to be open about your sexuality or gender identity.

In 1999, the French government created Civil Solidarity Pacts (PACS). This gave couples, including those of the same sex, the option to form a legal domestic partnership that provided many of the legal benefits and protections of marriage. Less than twenty years later in 2013, France became the 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage, including laws specific to trans individuals. That same year, adoption rights for LGBTQ+ couples and opposite-sex couples were equalised. In 2010, France removed being transgender from the list of mental illnesses in its national clinical classification - the first country to ever do so.

While France is seen as one of the most progressive countries in Europe, there is still more work to be done for true LGBTQ+ equality. For example, the country is still yet to formally recognise non-binary individuals; France has a third legal gender known as “neutral gender” but this only applies to those who are intersex. Additionally, even though you can easily change your name by going to the town hall, you have to go through an often expensive legal process to change your gender on the civil registry, including supplying testimonials and other official documents.

While France certainly seems to be heading in the right direction toward an LGBTQ+ inclusive Olympics and Paralympics, it’s important to remember there is still a significant way to go. Several global sports organisations have recently updated their eligibility criteria to prevent transgender and intersex athletes from competing in the games - this promotes an inaccurate depiction of the sporting world and the true number of talented athletes out there. What’s more, 62 countries competing in the Olympics and Paralympics criminalise same-sex sexual activity between adults, and in 12 countries, these relationships are punishable by death.

By remembering these facts and statistics, we can continue the fight for true LGBTQ+ equality in the Olympics and Paralympics, while also supporting all of the amazing queer athletes competing in this year’s games. So, which events will you be watching?