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USA Rugby’s new eligibility policy is a stark retreat from the values the sport claims to uphold. By forcing trans women out of the Women’s Division and into a newly created “Open Division,” the organization has chosen to sideline an already vulnerable group of athletes rather than stand up for them.

This decision isn’t a minor administrative tweak. It’s an exclusion dressed up as compliance. USA Rugby openly admits the policy will harm members of its own community, yet it pushed ahead anyway, citing pressure from the USOPC and the threat of sanctions. That’s not leadership; it’s capitulation.

Creating an “Open Division” doesn’t solve anything. It isolates trans women, strips them of equal access to competition, and sends a clear message that their participation is conditional. Rugby has always prided itself on being a sport where everyone belongs; where differences in size, background, and identity are part of the game’s strength. This policy abandons that tradition and replaces it with a segregated structure that treats trans women as outsiders.

The claim that “every option was explored” rings hollow when the end result mirrors the most restrictive trends in international sport. Other rugby bodies have shown that pushback works; National Collegiate Rugby reversed its own exclusionary policy after players and coaches demanded better. USA Rugby could have chosen that path. Instead, it chose the path of least resistance.

Trans women are women. They deserve full access to the Women’s Division. Not a separate category, not a workaround, not a polite expression of “concern” that masks exclusion. This policy narrows who is allowed to belong in women’s rugby and undermines the integrity of the sport.

If USA Rugby truly believes in the values it promotes of Respect, Solidarity, and Inclusion, then it needs to rescind this policy, listen to the athletes it affects, and commit to building a sport where every woman is welcome on the pitch.

I/we endorse this statement and call on USA Rugby to reverse its discriminatory policy and restore full inclusion for trans women in the Women’s Division.

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