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SGS

Addressing discrimination in sports and dismantling barriers faced by transgender athletes, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women.

Project information

Key Outcomes of the SGS Project

During the Sports Conference at the Austrian Ministry of Sport, the project partners shared the main results of the SGS initiative. The project aimed to address discrimination in sports and dismantle barriers faced by transgender athletes, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women. Key measures developed through the project included:

  • Institutionalized Dialogue: Establishing ongoing communication channels between sports organizations and LGBTQ+ communities to ensure continuous advocacy for inclusivity.

  • Guidelines for Inclusion: Developing comprehensive guidelines to help sports organizations create more inclusive environments for all genders and sexualities.

  • Awareness Campaigns: Launching campaigns to raise awareness about the challenges faced by marginalized groups in sports and to promote acceptance and diversity.

  • Inclusive Trainings: Conducting training sessions for coaches, athletes, and sports officials to foster an understanding of inclusivity and equip them with the tools to support diverse teams.

The project aims to establish an inclusive and open sports culture that is open to all genders and sexualities. European sport is still dominated by rather antiquated notions of masculinity and pejorative notions of femininity, as well as the strict division into "men" and "women". This dominant binary and masculine narrative in sport contributes to the discrimination and exclusion of women/girls (sexism), transgender (transphobia), lesbians and gay men (homophobia), and all those who cannot/won't be pigeonholed with their gender identity.

The overall goal of the project is to promote inclusion and participation of all genders and sexualities in European grassroots sports. This requires an understanding of how athletes are still excluded from sport due to a prevailing binary gender norm.

Together with relevant stakeholders from organized grassroots sports, SGS develops measures and methods (institutionalized dialogue, guidelines, awareness campaigns and inclusive trainings) to address these discriminations and break down barriers for transgender athletes, LGB persons and women.

These activities will increase participation in sports by all people and create a sports culture that is open to all genders and sexualities. The project will establish an empirical base through action-oriented research and best practices of institutional inclusion (Work Package 2). Work package 3 foresees the development of concrete measures, namely inclusive policies, training methods and an awareness campaign, and institutionalizes dialogue with stakeholders from organized sport and LGBT experts*. In work package 4, the developed measures will be implemented in national pilot actions in five partner countries (Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Germany). Finally, the results achieved and the experience and knowledge gained will be disseminated and made available to a broad public for future and sustainable use (work package 5).

Project partners

Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation – VIDC | NGO

Austria



German Sports University – GSU | University for Sport and Physical Education

Germany


European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation – EGLSF | LGBT umbrella sport organisation

The Netherlands



Assoziazione Italiane Cultura e Sport – AICS | National Sport for All Organisation

Italy



Diversport – DS | Genderinclusive LGBT sport club

Spain



Landessportbund Nordrhein-Westfalen – LSB | Non-governmental Umbrella Sport Organization of North Rhine-Westphalia

Germany



Confédération Sportive Internationale Travailliste et Amateur – CSIT | World Federation of Workers' and Amateur Sports Associations

Austria

Associates


Furthermore, there are three associated partners who are part of the working group on gender and sexual diversity in Austrian sports and who will accompany the pilot actions in Austria:

Austrian Figure Skating Association (SKATE AUSTRIA, Austria) | Sport Federation

Vienna Roller Derby (VRD, Austria) | Local Sport Club

Austrian Centre for Gender Competence in sport (100% SPORT, Austria) | Initiative for Gender Equality in Sport

Funding

SGS is funded by the European Commission within the Erasmus+ Sport program. 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Related news

News about SGS