Sports
Ugandan athlete receives refugee status in Canada
Trans man told he’d be killed if he returned to native Uganda
Adebayo Katiiti, front row, right, with teammates and friends at the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics world championships in Edmonton in August, 2016. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
Over the past year, the Washington Blade has followed the story of five LGBT Ugandan swimmers who were chasing the dream of representing their country at the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics world championships in Edmonton last August.
During the many new conferences and panels that the swimmers attended after arriving in Edmonton, it became clear that despite the challenges they faced at home in the Ugandan LGBT community, they were focused on raising awareness and creating change in their country. They would take their new life experiences back with them and continue to fight the persecution that is rampant in Uganda.
However, when it was time for the Uganda Kuchus Aquatic Team to return to Uganda after a week of competition, only four swimmers showed up at the airport.
Just a few days before the group left to fly to Edmonton, two of the swimmers had been sitting in a jail cell in Uganda after being arrested at a Pride event. Adebayo Katiiti was one of those swimmers and after he arrived in Edmonton, the threatening messages from family members began to arrive from home.
Katiiti, who is a trans man, was told that if he returned to Uganda, he would be killed. It wasn’t until the morning of his flight that he decided to stay in Canada and request asylum.
After receiving support and assistance from multiple churches and the LGBT community of Edmonton, Katiiti received refugee status last November. His work permit has also been secured and he will begin the process of obtaining permanent residency which will take up to 18 months.
A lifelong athlete, Katiiti has immersed himself in the Edmonton sports community while the process is ongoing. He is playing in a women’s rec soccer league and is the top scorer on the team. He is also still training in the swimming pool and has tried his hand at two new sports, handball and floor hockey.
“I haven’t found work yet though I am trying to find something sports related,” Katiiti says. “I was working with a sports association before and I would like to do the same here, especially with LGBT-friendly people.”
In the meantime, he is receiving a stipend from the Alberta government which is enough to cover his rent and bus pass with the remaining help coming from St Paul’s United Church and the LGBT community.
“I am still looking for my path,” Katiiti says. “I eventually will need to go back to school to make myself more employable.”
Finding that path in a new country will be difficult, but Katiiti has remained positive. He is dating and has just started attending meetings with a trans support group. He is also playing co-ed soccer with the Edmonton Sport & Social Club where he sometimes gets to play as a male.
Though the LGBT community, St Paul’s United Church and the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers have been champions in his journey thus far, he has not received the same support from other locals. A recent story that appeared on Global News was filled with negative rhetoric in the comments section.
“I hear things like, ‘You are not supposed to be here,’” Katiiti says. “Go back to your own country.”
He is not deterred by those comments though as Canada has offered him an opportunity to be free and start a new life. He has dreams like anyone else and one day hopes to be able to create an organization to help refugees in Edmonton as well as to offer hope to the LGBT community in Uganda.
As for that long Canadian winter, he is still adjusting and making the best of it.
“I had never seen snow before and there is so much of it here,” Katiiti says, laughing. “At 22 years old, I have made my first snowman and it won’t be my last.”
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
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