Ban on transgender women playing women’s rugby ‘absurd’, activists claim

A trans activist attending England’s open training session at Twickenham believes the decision to ban transgender women from playing women’s contact rugby has made life less safe for her community.

Emily Hamilton, the founding co-chair of LGBTQ+ rugby supporters association ‘Quins Pride’, was among a flag-waving group of around 20 people staging a peaceful protest on Thursday. They were part of a 1,000-strong crowd who watched the Red Roses as they step up preparations for this autumn’s World Cup in New Zealand. The event was staged the day after the Irish Rugby Football Union announced it is to emulate the Rugby Football Union by revising its rules for transgender women competing at grassroots level.

Hamilton, who played 18 seasons as an amateur before transitioning, insists that rugby is no longer a “safe and inclusive place” after the governing bodies voted to follow the lead taken by World Rugby when it implemented a ban in the elite game. “We were part of the rugby family – I’ve been in rugby for nearly 40 years – but now we’ve been told that we’re no longer part of that family,” Hamilton said. “We are human beings but we are being used as a political football, being kicked about at all levels of life. We thought rugby is a safe and inclusive place, which it no longer is.

“We just want to be seen and to be visible and for people to understand that we’re not the monsters we’re portrayed as. We’re not freaks of nature and actually in many cases we’re not that different to the women you see out there on the pitch training.”

“It’s also about the social contagion,” Hamilton added. “What’s happened in the last two weeks has opened the doors to the most horrific abuse – people telling me to kill myself, abusing me online –