France Allows Transgender Women To Play Rugby After A Unanimous Vote

Transgender Women Rugby: The French Rugby Federation board unanimously voted that transgender women in France will be allowed to play rugby in domestic competition from next season. The vote went against the governing body World Rugby's guidelines.

In October 2020, the governing body World Rugby’s guidelines said it “does not recommend” trans women play contact rugby. World Rugby allowed national unions to be flexible in how the guidelines and recommendations were applied.

World Rugby became the first international sports federation to say that transgender women cannot compete at elite and international levels. Transgender men are still permitted to play men’s contact rugby. In a statement, World Rugby said that “safety and fairness cannot presently be assured for women competing against transwomen in contact rugby.”

World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said that “Rugby is a welcoming and inclusive sport” and called it a “difficult decision” to exclude transgender women from elite and international rugby competitions. Beaumont added that “we recognise that the science continues to evolve, and we are committed to regularly reviewing these guidelines, always seeking to be inclusive.”

The previous World Rugby policy had followed the International Olympic Committee’s policy that transgender women must undergo hormonal treatment and suppress testosterone levels for at least 12 months before the competition. The International Olympic Committee is currently developing new guidelines.

The French Rugby Federation (FFR) voted that transgender women could play if they could certify that their testosterone level was under 5 nanomoles and that they had been on hormonal treatment for at least 12 months. FFR is France’s first national federation that allows transgender women to take part in elite sport.

Vice President of FFR Serge Simon called rugby an “inclusive, sharing sport, without distinction of sex, gender, origin or religion”. He added that FFR is against “all forms of discrimination” and that the federation works to make sure “everyone can exercise their free will in rugby”.