There have been 81 modern Paralympians, at both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, who have identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, non-binary, queer, or who have openly been in a same-sex relationship. The first Paralympic Games in which an athlete now known to be LGBT+ competed was the 1984 Winter Paralympics.
Despite growing numbers of out LGBTQ Paralympians with each Summer Games in the 21st century, the media coverage of these athletes was significantly lower than the vastly growing coverage of LGBTQ Olympians, if present at all. Fusion suggested that besides low coverage causing a self-justifying lack of interest, there may be a failure to report on the intersection of Paralympians who are queer due to wider media treatment of Paralympians as disabled tropes and societal perceptions of disabled people as desexualised.
Like with LGBTQ+ Olympic athletes, there have been more openly queer Summer than Winter Paralympians. Unlike with Olympians, however, the number of out LGBTQ+ Winter Paralympians was, through 2022, largely stagnant rather than gradually increasing. Fusion suggested this may be related to the Winter Games being held in homophobic nations and greater fear among double marginalised LGBTQ+ Paralympians to be publicly out, with discrimination cited as a reason there are fewer out Paralympians than Olympians across both seasons despite significant prevalence of disability in the queer community. In 2026, with six out Winter Paralympians, magazine Out referred to the significant increase as making the Games "more queer than [they] had hoped".
The most decorated LGBT+ Para- and/or Olympian overall is British Paralympic equestrian Lee Pearson, with 17 medals including 14 golds. At least 48 LGBT+ Paralympians are medalists (59.26% of LGBT+ Paralympians), of which 27 have at least one gold medal (33.33%).
Overview
+By countryCountryNumber of ParalympiansTotal21251——191—1041—51——121—33——3113—14—1—12——22——21——11——111—21——11——1192223
+By yearGamesNumber of ParalympiansTotal1984 Winter1——11992 Summer1——11996 Summer1——12000 Summer21—32002 Winter1——12004 Summer53—82006 Winter1——12008 Summer122—142010 Winter2——22012 Summer242—262014 Winter21—32016 Summer3541402018 Winter21—32020 Summer4353512022 Winter—1—12024 Summer4062482026 Winter42—6
+By sportSportNumber of Paralympians by genderFemaleMaleNon-binaryTotalCisgenderTransgenderCisgenderTransgender Alpine skiing2—1——3 Athletics9111214 Cross-country skiing3—1——4 Cycling9————9 Equestrian——1——1 Goalball2————2 Judo1————1 Parabiathlon1—1——2 Paracanoe1————1 Para snowboard1————1 Parataekwondo1————1 Paratriathlon3—1——4 Powerlifting——1——1 Rowing6———17 Shooting1————1 Sitting volleyball3————3 Swimming5—3—19 Wheelchair basketball15————15 Wheelchair curling1————1 Wheelchair fencing2————2 Wheelchair tennis4—2——6
Notes
Paralympic athletes and coaches Tables are default sorted by first Games appearance chronologically, then current surname or common nickname alphabetically, then first name alphabetically. They can be sorted by current surname (where used) or common nickname alphabetically; by country and sport alphabetically; by Games chronologically; and by medals as organised in Paralympics medals tables.