17 LGBTQ+ athletes we'll be rooting for at the Paris 2024 Paralympics

Fresh off the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2024 Paralympics are about to start!

Also taking place in the French capitol, the 2024 Paralympics are set to begin on August 28 and go until September 8, with hundreds of top athletes competing in 22 different sports including archery, wheelchair basketball, paracanoe, judo, swimming, and more.

At the Olympics, nearly 200 LGBTQ+ athletes competed. Well, the Paralympics are no exception, and queer athletes are also making their presence known and their community proud!

Here are 17 out athletes we'll be watching and rooting for!

1. Valentina Petrillo

Petrillo is making headlines this year as she will be the first out trans woman to compete in the Paralympic Games. Petrillo, a sprinter diagnosed with Stargardt disease at the age of 14, is set to compete in her first Paralympics, where she'll run for gold in the 200m and 400m T12 events.

2. Hailey Danz

Danz is an American triathlete who previously competed in the Tokyo and Rio Paralympics, winning silver at both games.

3. Cindy Ouellet

Ouellet is one of the stars of the Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team, having competed at four previous Paralympic Games. She also is one of the few athletes to compete at both the summer and winter Paralympics, competing in Para-Nordic skiing at the PyeongChang games.

4. Laurie Williams

Williams is a wheelchair basketball player for Great Britain, having competed in every Paralympics for her country since 2012.

5. Lucy Shuker

Shuker, a wheelchair tennis player from Great Britain, won women's doubles bronze at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 games, and won a silver in that event in Tokyo 2020. Her first Paralympics were at the 2008 Beijing games.

6. Emma Wiggs

Wiggs is a decorated Paralympian who started out competing in sitting volleyball at the 2012 Paralympics, but switched to Para Canoe, where she's won two golds and one silver.

7. Robyn Love

Love is a member of Great Britain's women's wheelchair basketball team originally from Scotland. She's competed twice before in the Paralympics, helping her team to finish 7th in Tokyo and 4th in Rio.

8. Lauren Rowles

Lauren Rowles MBE is a two time gold medal winner at the Paralympics, having won at both Tokyo and Rio in the PR2 mixed double sculls rowing event for Great Britain.

9. Tara Llanes

Llanes plays for Canada's wheelchair basketball team and competed at the 2020 Paralympics. She was also a professional mountain biker for 15 years, winning an X-Games gold, two silvers, and a bronze.

10. Kaitlyn Eaton

Eaton, from Houston, Texas, won a bronze medal with Team USA in women's wheelchair basketball in 2020 and is hoping for another medal this year.

11. Lucy Robinson

Robinson started playing wheelchair basketball after a hip injury left her with the long-term condition Avascular necrosis. She played for Team Great Britain in the 2020 Paralympics.

12. Courtney Ryan

Ryan was a member of the USA team that won bronze at the 2020 Paralympics in women's wheelchair basketball.

13. Débora Menezes

Menezes competes in Taekwondo for Brazil and won a silver medal at her first Paralympics in Tokyo.

14. Alana Maldonado

Maldonado is a Brazilian judoka who won a silver at the 2016 Rio games and won gold in the Women's -70kg division in Tokyo.

15. Kate O'Brien

O'Brien is a cyclist for Canada who won a silver medal in the Women's 500 m time trial event at the 2020 Tokyo games.

16. Katie-George Dunlevy

Dunlevy is one of Ireland's most successful Para-cyclists, having won three gold medals and two silvers in different tandem cycling events at the Rio and Tokyo Paralympics. She used to represent Great Britain in pararowing before switching to cycling.

17. Brenda Osnaya

Osnaya Alvarez is a Mexican triathlete who finished fifth at the 2020 Tokyo games.