Gay rugby team slams bid to ban trans women
WALES’ first gay rugby team has criticised plans to ban trans women from playing women’s rugby.
The sport’s governing body World Rugby is considering the move over “safety concerns”, claiming a female player is at a higher risk of being injured by a player who has gone through male puberty.
And in its report, published by the Guardian newspaper, it says trans women have significant physical advantages over biological women even after they take medication to lower testosterone.
However, if these proposals get the goahead then doubts surround when and where trans women are able to play competitive rugby.
Cardiff Lions, Wales’ first gay inclusive rugby team, criticised the proposals, and said the plans effectively amount to a ban on trans women playing the sport because they would not be able to play men’s rugby either.
The club posted on social media: “After reading a leaked document from World Rugby which proposes the ban of trans women from rugby we stand with the trans community and strongly disagree with this proposal. We feel this is wholly unjust and abhorrent.”
Chairman of the Cardiff Lions, Gareth Waters, believes such a decision would be a bad one.
He said: “It’s detrimental because all trans women have had, in order to play rugby, barriers to get through such as ensuring that their testosterone levels are low enough and that their oestrogen levels are high enough, in order for them to be able to play.
“That is not the right message to be sending at all. We should be doing what we can and working with the unions, to ensure that rugby is still an inclusive sport and that there is an area for trans people if they wish to join. It’s another barrier for the trans community to face, it’s just not acceptable”.
With rugby being incredibly popular in Wales, Gareth believes the news could stop transgender people from taking up the sport locally.
He added: “Rugby is a religion in Wales. For those within the trans community in
Wales, they grew up knowing rugby is the greatest sport in the world.
“In any walk or life, be it sport or work, you look to your leaders. The leaders, being World Rugby, turning around and saying that there’s no place for trans women in rugby will trickle down to local rugby sides”.
The IGR (International Gay Rugby) has released a statement calling for World Rugby to “repudiate and disavow the proposed change”.
It said: “International Gay Rugby therefore call on World Rugby to immediately repudiate and disavow the proposed change in policy.
“In general, the proposal seeks to implement an irrational standard without suitable research. These guidelines, geared towards elite rugby players, will significantly affect amateur rugby players, who comprise the overwhelming majority of rugby participants in the world”.
World Rugby’s 38-page draft document, produced by its transgender working group, said there is likely to be “at least a 20-30% greater risk” of injury when a female player is tackled by someone who has gone through male puberty.
It argues the advantage is so great – and the potential consequences for the safety of participants in tackles, scrums and mauls – it should mean that welfare concerns should be prioritised.
And the document claims those advantages are not reduced when a trans woman takes testosterone-suppressing medication, “with only small reductions in strength and no loss in bone mass or muscle volume or size after testosterone suppression”.
However, World Rugby insists it is committed to encouraging transgender people to remain involved with rugby and is currently funding research to continue to review any evidence that may emerge to enable the participation of transgender women in women’s rugby.
Kelly Morgan, a trans woman playing for Porth Harlequins Ladies, was welcomed with open arms at the club after battling with her gender identity. Last year, the BBC reported Kelly was able to play, according to WRU guidelines, due to her blood level testosterone being within a certain range.
The WRU is yet to comment on the potential policy changes.