Stonewall charity is demanding rugby overturns ban on men who identify as women

Gay rights charity Stonewall are vigorously opposing new proposals from rugby officials which would see transgender women banned from playing.

The organisation is putting the safety of female rugby players second to the 'feelings' of transitioned athletes with its demands against World Rugby.

World Rugby is considering a ban on allowing transgender athletes to play women's contact rugby due to concerns about increased risks of injury, which they say comes from independent research. 

The report says there could be 'at least a 20-30 per cent risk' of injury when a female player is tackled by a player who has gone through male puberty, as reported by the BBC.

Currently 'trans women' can play women’s rugby if they lower their testosterone levels for at least 12 months in line with Olympic guidelines. But the working group looking at the rule change in July said this was not 'fit for purpose'. 

In response to Stonewall, an unnamed former rugby player from Hampshire tweeted: 'I am a 6ft 2in former forward. If I announce I identify as a girl, Stonewall says it's OK for me to smash full tilt into a female fly half who weighs four or five stone less than me.

'When she has a life changing spinal injury because of it, that's fine, because no one's feelings got hurt.'

The LGBTIQ+ Sport and Physical Activity Alliance is calling on UK rugby clubs to stand with it to oppose the new proposals from World Rugby.

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