World Rugby Bans Trans Women
Global crusade against transgender athletes getting on the fi eld reaches new heights
BY MATT TRACY
The growing effort to impose
discriminatory
bans on transgender
athletes in women’s
sports is intensifying around the
world — and rugby players are
next on the chopping block.
World Rugby, which also organizes
the Rugby World Cup every
four years, banned transgender
women on October 9, marking the
fi rst time an international sports
governing body issued such a ban
on global competitions.
The move comes at a time when
the issue has become a fl ashpoint
in the United States, where the federal
government and some states,
working with the anti-LGBTQ Alliance
Defending Freedom, have led
the way in attempts to aggressively
push transgender student-athletes
off the playing fi eld by arguing that
their participation violates Title IX,
a 1972 federal statue aimed at preventing
sex discrimination in government
funded schools.
But on an international level,
where the focus is primarily on
professional sports and global
competition, governing bodies appear
to be setting the tone in policing
women’s bodies, whether the
women are transgender or not —
most notably in the case of Olympic
Gold Medal track star Caster
Semenya. World Athletics issued
testosterone rules requiring women
athletes with naturally high levels
of testosterone to reduce their
testosterone levels in order to compete
in certain competitions, and
now World Rugby is bypassing any
such testosterone requirements
and banning transgender women
from women’s rugby altogether.
World Rugby claimed to have
undergone a comprehensive review
process under which the governing
➤ INTERSEX YOUTH, from p.16
best to “make sure it’s the sharpest
bill possible.”
The legislation is also co-sponsored
by Carlina Rivera, Ben Kallos,
New Zealand and the United States during the women’s championship semifi nal of the Rugby World Cup
Sevens in 2018.
body brought together medical,
research, and rugby experts for
a workshop “with the objective of
understanding the medical, physiological,
psychological, risk socioethical,
and sporting environment,”
according to World Rugby’s
written statement.
World Rugby asserted that the
review process “set out to understand
whether it was possible to
balance inclusivity with safety
and fairness in light of growing
evidence that the testosterone
suppression required by previous
transgender regulations does not
signifi cantly impact muscle mass,
strength, or power.”
World Rugby concluded that
“safety and fairness cannot presently
be assured for women competing
against trans women in
contact rugby,” though it’s diffi cult
to imagine safety ever being assured
for an individual playing a
contact sport — regardless of gender
identity.
World Rugby did not offer a compelling
scientifi c basis justifying
the ban. The governing body presented
a very brief fact sheet summarizing
what they described as
“transgender biology and performance
and Margaret Chin of Manhattan;
Diana Ayala of the Bronx
and Manhattan; out gay Carlos
Menchaca and his colleague Farah
Louis of Brooklyn; and out gay
Jimmy Van Bramer and his colleagues
USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS/ KELLEY L. COX
research,” which contained
some statistics that purportedly
showed only minimal differences
between the bodies of cisgender
men and transgender women who
have reduced testosterone levels.
Transgender men will still be
allowed to pariticpate in men’s
contact rugby, World Rugby said,
clearly demonstrating the governing
body does not view transgender
men as a threat to men’s sports
nor did it take into consideration
the safety concerns it pointed to in
the case of trans women athletes.
World Rugby clarifi ed that the
rules apply strictly to international
competition, meaning nations
are allowed to permit transgender
women to participate in competitions
held at the domestic level.
The new ban drew criticism
across the rugby universe, even
before the policy went into place, as
folks blasted World Rugby for relying
on fl imsy science and resorting
to a discriminatory policy. In July,
The Guardian reported on a leaked
document from World Rugby hinting
at the looming ban on trans
athletes, citing, “safety concerns.”
Tens of thousands of individuals
subsequently responded in petitions
Costa Constantinides and
Donovan Richards of Queens.
Regardless of the legislation’s
fate, a more far-reaching piece of
legislation is pending at the state
level. Out gay State Senator Brad
SPORTS
and letters.
A change.org petition led by
Grace McKenzie, an out trans rugby
player who is fi rmly against the
ban, has yielded more than 18,000
signatures. McKenzie stated that
World Rugby turned to two transphobic
scientists who carried out
questionable research, and she
further pointed to testimony from
Dr. Joshua Safer, the executive director
of the Mount Sinai Center
for Transgender Medicine and Surgery,
when he testifi ed under oath
in a legal case involving a trans
sports ban in Idaho schools earlier
this year.
“After a transgender woman lowers
her level of testosterone, there is
no inherent reason why her physiological
characteristics related to
athletic performance should be
treated differently from the physiological
characteristics of a nontransgender
woman,” Safer stated.
Meanwhile, more than 100 international
players across nearly
a dozen national teams as well
as referees joined an open letter
against the ban, and more than 80
academics across the sports and
public health worlds also penned a
letter arguing against the ban, according
to Outsports.com.
World Rugby, however, did not
entirely rule out the possibility of
future changes to the new ban.
“Rugby is a welcoming and inclusive
sport and, while this has
been a diffi cult decision to make, it
has been taken following comprehensive
consultation and engagement
and for the right reasons,
given the risk of injury,” World
Rugby chair Bill Beaumont said
in a written statement. “That said,
we recognize that the science continues
to evolve, and we are committed
to regularly reviewing these
guidelines, always seeking to be
inclusive.”
Hoylman of Manhattan unveiled a
bill last year that requires informed
consent from an intersex minor
before doctors are allowed to move
forward with non-medically necessary
treatment or intervention.
GayCityNews.com | November 05 - November 18, 2020 17
/change.org
/Outsports.com
/GayCityNews.com
