It was at a ClimbingQTs event that Luce first felt “proud” to tell people they were non-binary.
“It was the first time I felt comfortable in my identity,” the 18-year-old said.
“It changed my life in pretty big ways.”
ClimbingQTs is an LGBTQIA+ advocacy group and the largest social climbing club in Australia.
It holds monthly meet-ups at gyms around Australia, where Luce and their friend Phoebe act as “champions”, or friendly faces, to introduce and make others feel welcome.
For many, it’s their first experience of being surrounded by queer community.
Luce is non-binary and found a community in the ClimbingQTs social group. (Supplied: Sport Climbing Victoria)
“[It made me realise] I’m not actually alone in my experiences,” Luce said.
Nineteen-year-old Phoebe, who is a trans woman, had a similarly positive experience.
Because she was in the process of undertaking gender-affirming care, she was mandated to see a psychologist, who recommended the group to her.
“It was nice to have other queer people, especially older people, navigating all the silly bureaucracy of getting on gender-affirming care,” she said.
Phoebe said she fell in love with a sport that didn’t have the “homophobic locker room culture” of some mainstream team sports, and was accessible to introverts.
Phoebe feels accepted as a trans woman in social climbing circles. (Supplied: Sport Climbing Victoria)
But while both Luce and Phoebe found community in social climbing, their experience of the sport changed once they entered more competitive pathways.
With the support of ClimbingQTs, both are advocating for change at the elite level, a process that has led Sport Climbing Australia (SCA) to consider some radical changes to its competitive pathways.
Homophobic jokes, misgendering in competitive climbing
For Luce, competitive climbing was a world away from the progressive bubble of social climbing.
Despite being non-binary, they participated in the women’s category at youth championships, given the binary nature of elite sporting competition.
While training for youth championships, Luce recalled overhearing homophobic jokes and slurs from other competitors and they were also frequently misgendered.
Luce has had negative experiences in more competitive climbing environments. (Supplied: Sport Climbing Victoria)
“[I felt like] they saw any queer person in climbing as someone to make a joke about and just not respect at all,” they said.
“I felt like I could be a queer climber or a competitive climber — I couldn’t be both at once.“
Phoebe also experienced misgendering, including at a tournament where she had to repeatedly correct the judging panel, who assumed she was competing in the open men’s category, despite her paperwork stating otherwise.
Luce says their experience of competitive climbing was so negative that they stopped enjoying the sport they loved.
This was compounded by not being able to compete in an “inclusive” category at national championships.
Luce would like an inclusive category introduced for top-level competitions. (Supplied: Sport Climbing Victoria)
People of any gender can participate in inclusive categories, but these are generally only available as social (non-elite) competitions.
Victoria and New South Wales are the only states to consistently offer an inclusive category at state level, while the category is not offered at national championships.
This is despite other, similar social categories (such as the Masters competition, for climbers aged 40 years and older) being offered at the national level.
It’s something Luce has been pushing to change.
“It would give a lot more opportunities to people in the sport to experience high-level competition,” they said.
ClimbingQTs calls on national body to introduce inclusive category
After Luce and Phoebe raised their concerns about the availability of inclusive competitions with the ABC, ClimbingQTs released a statement on March 12 calling for change from the national governing body.
ClimbingQTs annual Pride party in Sydney is one of eight national events held each year during Pride month. (Supplied: Marvin Pamonag)
It acknowledged that several climbing gyms around the country had “enthusiastically” offered inclusive categories in social competitions.
“Such moves have greatly contributed to the improved wellbeing, safety and inclusion of trans and gender diverse climbers that don’t necessarily fit into the more traditional, narrower gender binary of men’s and women’s sporting competitions,” the statement said.
It went on to call for inclusive categories to be offered across all states and territories in Australia, as well as at the national level.
“We’ve got cisgendered members competing and winning at elite levels across the country and around the world,” ClimbingQTs national president Nick Rippon said.
Nick Rippon wants to see change across Australia. (Supplied: April Bradford)
“Yet for our equally talented members that don’t fit the traditional gender binary, the absence of inclusive competition climbing categories means they’re unable to progress in their sporting endeavours.
“Can you imagine how soul crushing it is for someone absolutely dedicated to a sport they love to be told there’s no room for people like you?“
The statement caught the attention of SCA chief executive Beck Hamilton, who has been in the role for just over nine months.
Hamilton is the first chief executive of the organisation, which was previously exclusively volunteer and run by a board.
Beck Hamilton recently assumed the role of chief executive of Sport Climbing Australia. (Supplied)
She told the ABC she “applauded” the statement and had already moved to strike up a formal partnership with ClimbingQTs to be SCA’s “trusted advisors” on issues of LGBTQI+ inclusion.
She acknowledged the hurt Luce and Phoebe had experienced, arguing she wanted to create a culture where people could come forward with these stories “without fear of reprisal”.
“I’d hate to think going forward that if that experience happened at one of our events … they couldn’t come and talk to us about that.
“I don’t want us to be that sport.”
SCA to introduce inclusive competition pathway
In response to the call for an inclusive category, Hamilton said she was keen to establish an inclusive competition at national championships, to sit alongside the existing Olympic and Paralympic pathways.
This would mean all states and territories would host an inclusive competition, in which participants would vie for spots in the national championships.
The CEO was also willing to go one step further, arguing Australia could advocate for a world championships of inclusive climbing, putting itself forward as a potential first host.
SCA’s new CEO is acting to address the concerns of the climbing community. (Getty Images: Gao Jing/Xinhua)
“This will be an exercise in learning about how big this community is at an elite level, because we know that in general, it’s only about 10 to 15 per cent of people who will go into the competitive side of sport.
“But from little things, big things come, right?”
Sport Climbing Victoria secretary Yvette Harrison welcomed Hamilton’s commitment, saying an inclusive category would need time to grow its participant base.
“If you build it, they will come,” she told the ABC.
“Victoria was the first state to adopt inclusive categories … and this is something we are very proud of.
“People finding their community through sport can be life-affirming for so many.”
Harrison is the mother of Campbell Harrison, who was the first openly LGBTQI+ climber to compete in the Olympics, and has spoken to the ABC about the importance of queer sporting role models.
For Luce, the introduction of an inclusive competition would be a “dream come true”.
“This is something I wouldn’t have thought would actually ever happen,” they said.
“If this happens, it opens up so many possibilities for a whole new wave of young climbers who never saw a place for themselves in sport.”
IOC ruling means trans women still on the outer
For Phoebe, however, the decision is bittersweet. While she is thrilled for those in the community who want to participate in the inclusive category, she says she would personally prefer to participate in a women’s competition.
Phoebe wants to compete in the women’s category. (Supplied: Sport Climbing Victoria)
Last year, she qualified for the youth national championships, but was unable to compete because of what she described as a “minor hormonal fluctuation”.
Under World Climbing rules, trans women must maintain a testosterone level under 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months prior to competition.
“The back and forwards of trying to figure out if I was allowed to compete negatively affected my mental health and relationship with the sport forever,” Phoebe said.
ClimbingQTs wants climbers such as Phoebe to feel included at all levels. (Supplied: Sport Climbing Victoria)
Her situation has been made all the more complex by the recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcement that all women athletes will be subjected to SRY gene testing to determine their eligibility for elite competition.
The decision in effect bans trans women from participating, and also impacts women with innate variations of sex characteristics.
The ruling will inevitably affect sport climbing, which has been inducted as one of the mandatory sports of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games (having first been introduced as a discretionary event at Tokyo 2021).
While the policy has not yet resulted in a change to World Climbing rules, Hamilton said SCA would need to abide by whatever the international governing body decides to do.
“I think the IOC ruling has put a very clear line in the sand [around who can participate],” Hamilton said.
“For some sports, that is a good decision. For us, I’m not sure yet.
“What I want people to know is that because there is that line, it gives us an opportunity to create something new.”
Sport climbing has increased in popularity since it was introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. (Getty Images)
But while an inclusive competition is welcome news for many gender diverse participants, Hamilton acknowledges that it does not solve the issue of trans women who want to compete in the women’s category.
Pride Cup issued a statement opposing the IOC’s mandatory sex testing policy, arguing it is “unnecessary, disproportionate, and fails to address the real issues that women and girls in sport face”.
It notes that less than one per cent of Australians are transgender or gender diverse, and “only an extremely small number have competed at the elite level globally”.
Adele Pavlidis, an academic and expert on gender equity in sport, argued the IOC’s policy threatened trans women’s right to participate in sport.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry recently announced transgender athletes would no longer be allowed to participate in women’s events. (Getty Images: Andreas Rentz)
“Trans women are not a threat to sport,” she told ABC Sport.
“There is a deep need for cultural transformation in sport. Sport could really lead the way but often it maintains the status quo and is a conservative force.”
Reflecting on the proposed introduction of an inclusive category, Pavlidis said the idea had the potential to drive “deeper cultural shifts”.
“The idea of an inclusive category sounds great in theory but in practice there are so many issues to untangle,” she said.
“There are coaches, and families, and fans, and officials that all bring their own ideas and biases.
“If we [society] could move beyond binary gendered thinking, then an all-inclusive category could work.”
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