March 03 2026, 08:15 
USA Rugby has announced it has added a third competitive category to accommodate trans athletes. The sport, which is skyrocketing in popularity, will now have a men’s, women’s, and open category.
A statement from the organization said the decision was a direct result of the president’s anti-trans executive order declaring the federal government’s stance that trans women should not compete in women’s sports.
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USA Rugby said the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) determined that the order applies to all National Governing Bodies (NGB), and as such, “USA Rugby is required to comply and update the terms that identify eligibility for gender categories.”
“Failure to do so could result in sanctions from the USOPC, including the potential loss of NGB status. Accordingly, the updated policy will apply to all USA Rugby-sanctioned competitions.”
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The statement explained that the Open Division “will permit any athlete, regardless of gender assigned at birth and gender identity, to compete in USA Rugby-sanctioned events, whether full contact or non-contact.”
The policy itself also makes clear that the addition of the open category means trans women are banned from playing in the women’s category. “To comply with USOPC’s NGB Athlete Safety Policy, the Women’s Division is limited to individuals who are assigned female at birth,” it states. In contrast, the policy states that “any athlete registered as male” may participate in the men’s category.
Rugby news site Your Scrumhalf Connection called the move “abhorrent” and “a dark milestone for American rugby.”
“USA Rugby is claiming to offer a space for everyone while effectively building a ‘separate but equal’ structure,” wrote Wendy Young. “This is a betrayal of the rugby values of integrity and passion. Forcing trans women out of the Women’s Division does not make the game safer. Instead, it targets a vulnerable population of athletes and tells them they are ‘other.'”
Young ended the piece with several calls to action, including asking women’s club teams to register in the open division. “If the Women’s Division becomes empty because teams refuse to play without their trans teammates, the policy fails,” Young explained.
Others involved in the sport also spoke out against the ban.
“This doesn’t make anyone safer, this certainly doesn’t make women safer,” said rugby journalist Samantha Lovett on Instagram. “This is gonna be open season for bigots questioning people’s gender.” She added that masculine-presenting women and women of color will bear the brunt of the bigotry.
“This is gonna be a disaster. Rugby is a game built on the identity of anyone can play no matter your shape, your size. This is erasing the history of rugby itself. I have played with trans women, I’ve played with them, I’ve played against them. I’ve played with trans men, too, and I’ve played with cis men, and I’ve played with cis women, and if all of that confuses you, then you don’t know enough about rugby or the women’s rugby community or gender identity or f**king any of it to have an opinion.”
She said it feels like a “direct attack” on the lower divisions, where trans and queer people “all come to feel like they belong.”
“That is the history of women’s rugby.”
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