USA Rugby creates ‘open’ division after Trump administration pressure to exclude transgender women

USA Rugby announced on Friday that it will now ban transgender women from being eligible to compete in the women’s division, but that the organization will continue to permit “any athlete registered as male to participate in the men’s division.” The policy, which took effect February 20, reverses the eligibility standards the organization had maintained since at least 2022.

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The change comes in response to a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee directive issued last July ordering national sports governing bodies to ban transgender women from women’s Olympic competitions. The USOPC directive followed President Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

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Under its previous policy, now deleted from USA Rugby’s website, the organization adhered to the International Olympic Committee’s 2015 transgender guidelines, which permitted transgender women to compete in the women’s division provided they declared a female gender identity for a minimum of four years and maintained testosterone levels below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to competition. Transgender men faced no restrictions on competing in the male category.

The previous policy also outlined a confidential three-step evaluation process for athlete eligibility, which included an informal interview with a medical committee representative, designated testing if needed, and referral to a transgender eligibility working group if questions remained unresolved.

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The updated policy establishes an “open” division, allowing any athlete to compete regardless of sex assigned at birth or hormone levels. USA Rugby cites the USOPC’s NGB Athlete Safety Policy as the basis for the new division, quoting its mandate that governing bodies ensure "women have a fair and safe competition environment."

According to the organization, “USA Rugby strictly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity [or] gender expression. The organization’s site then links to another page regarding the SafeSport program, which was set up to “give participants an outlet to report these incidents and are encouraged to do so.”

Some players and clubs are now organizing resistance. In a February 27 post on the rugby community site Your Scrumhalf Connection, editor Wendy Young called on clubs to register their teams in the open division rather than the women’s division, reasoning that if the women’s division is depopulated, “the policy fails.”

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Young also called on players to email USA Rugby’s compliance department and CEO Bill Goren directly, push their geographic union officers to grant blanket open division approval for local league play, and flood the compliance department with self-reported eligibility changes. Young has since organized a strategy call for club presidents, captains, coaches, and player advocates to coordinate a response for the 2026 season.