Trans Athletes Study, Mardi Gras Film Festival, Sporties Hall of Fame, Olivia Colman | Rainbow Briefing — Daily LGBTQIA+ News Podcast Australia

Hi, I’m Louise Poole, and this is the Rainbow Briefing for Wednesday the 11th of February. Your daily LGBTQIA+ news catchup.

Recorded and produced on Yugambeh and Yuggera land.

Today — a landmark study takes on trans sports bans, a hundred and thirty-nine films land in Sydney for Mardi Gras, and Olivia Colman gets real about gender.

A major new study has found no significant physical advantage for transgender women over cisgender women in sport — after at least a year of hormone therapy.

It’s the most comprehensive analysis of its kind, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine — one of the world’s top sports science journals.

And it lands at a critical moment.

Right now, at the Winter Olympics in Italy, Swedish mogul skier Elis Lundholm is competing in the women’s category — even though he identifies as a man. Under current rules, Lundholm competes aligned with his sex assigned at birth.

It’s a reminder that the question of where trans athletes fit in sport is far from settled.

A team from the University of São Paulo reviewed 52 studies involving more than six and a half thousand participants.

They measured the things that matter in sport. Upper body strength. Lower body strength. Aerobic capacity. Body composition.

Yes, trans women retained higher lean muscle mass than cis women. But that extra mass didn’t translate into any measurable performance advantage.

On the metrics that actually determine how athletes perform — strength, power, oxygen consumption — trans women and cis women were comparable.

The researchers make the point that lean mass alone is an incomplete measure of athletic ability. In some sports — like cycling and climbing — carrying more mass without added function could actually be a disadvantage.

Lead researcher Bruno Gualano says the findings refute the logic behind blanket bans. He says most of those policies assume trans women retain inherent advantages — and the data simply doesn’t support it.

The study does acknowledge gaps. Most research has run for less than three years. There’s very little data on elite-level trans athletes — largely because there are so few. And almost no studies on young people who received puberty blockers.

But the conclusion is clear — the evidence supports sport-specific policies, not blanket exclusions.

The timing matters. The IOC under new president Kirsty Coventry reversed its previous inclusive approach last year — and is expected to release new eligibility rules this quarter.

In 2023, the Australian Institute of Sport recommended an evidence-based, case-by-case approach to trans inclusion — rejecting blanket bans.

But since then, several Australian sports have gone the other way — following international federations in restricting trans women from elite competition.

This study is now the strongest evidence base available — for Australian sporting bodies, and for the IOC, as it decides its next move.

The Mardi Gras Film Festival — Australia’s biggest LGBTQIA+ film event — opens in Sydney tomorrow.

The 33rd festival is screening 139 films from 38 countries across a fortnight.

And this year, it’s the trans and gender diverse program that’s generating real buzz.

Queer Screen CEO Benson Wu says the response has been overwhelming — and not just from the trans community. He says audiences are leaning into this creativity — not only to support the work, but to learn something more.

The closing film She’s the He is a bold reinvention of the teen comedy through a queer and trans lens. There’s A Deeper Love — a decade in the making — tracing the rise of trailblazing trans performer Miss Peppermint. And Second Nature, narrated and produced by Elliot Page, exploring gender and sexuality in the natural world.

Wu says it’s about more than just the films. People want to come to the cinema and come together with their community. Sometimes, he says, it’s just as simple as that.

The festival runs from tomorrow through to February the 26th.

Comedian and writer Steven Oliver and drag legend Shanny T-Bone are being inducted into the Sportsman Hotel’s Drag Hall of Fame this Saturday.

The Hall of Fame recognises exceptional lifetime achievements in drag entertainment in Queensland and beyond.

Steven Oliver — who you might know as the face of hit TV show Black Comedy — and Shanny, who spent more than twenty years on the drag scene before announcing her retirement last year, are both being honoured for their contributions.

The ceremony is this Saturday night at the Sportsman Hotel in Brisbane from 10pm, hosted by fellow Hall of Famer Miss Synthetique.

Oscar-winning actor Olivia Colman — known for The Crown, The Favourite and Heartstopper — has been reflecting on her relationship with gender.

In an interview promoting her new film Jimpa — which premiered at Sundance — Colman said she’s always felt sort of nonbinary.

She was quick to add — don’t make that a big sort of title.

But she says she’s never felt massively feminine in being female. She told the interviewer she’s always described herself to her husband as a gay man. And he goes — yeah, I get that.

Colman says she feels at home in LGBTQIA+ spaces.

And Australia’s biggest regional Mardi Gras kicks off in Broome next week.

Broome Pride is turning the Roebuck Bay Hotel into a three-stage festival precinct for two weeks — running from February the 19th through to March the 2nd.

The program has everything from drag makeup workshops for kids and adults to pride trivia, cabaret nights and a big dance party headlined by UK act Freemasons and Ministry of Sound’s Paul Morrell.

Broome Pride co-chair Tamara Burchell says the festival is about visibility, inclusion and creating spaces where everyone feels welcome.

Tickets are on sale now at broomepride.com.

That’s the Rainbow Briefing for Wednesday the 11th of February.

I’m Louise Poole and this is independent queer community media. Your support is crucial to its success. Share the bulletin, tell your community, leave us a review, and find us on socials. And if you’ve got community news to share, submit a story at rainbowbriefing.com.au.