USA Rugby creates open division for trans athletes in response to Trump order

USA Rugby, the nation’s governing body for the sport of rugby, announced Friday it will be introducing a new “open” gender division to accommodate trans athletes.

The new rule comes more than a year after President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order and nearly seven months after the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) new requirement for all governing bodies to comply with it.

“USA Rugby will now have three competition categories; Men’s Division, Women’s Division and Open Division. 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 organization said in a statement. 

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Cassidy Bargell of the United States passes the ball during a women’s rugby World Cup 2025 match against Samoa at LNER Community Stadium in Monks Cross, York, Sept. 6, 2025. (Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto)

The organization’s policy also seemingly allows any hopeful competitors to simply select their gender when registering, with potential vetting by officials.

“Division status will be determined during the membership application and registration process, when an athlete selects the ‘gender’ option in Rugby Xplorer. When applying for membership or registering as ‘Female’ or registering for an event in the Women’s Division, an athlete represents and warrants to USA Rugby that they are Female.”

“This representation creates a rebuttable presumption that the individual’s sex identified at birth was female,” the organization’s member policy states. 

Gabriella Cantorna, Ilona Maher and Emily Henrich of the U.S. before a women’s rugby World Cup 2025 match against Samoa at York Community Stadium Sept. 6, 2025, in York, England.  (Molly Darlington/World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

“The determination of whether an individual is Female may be established through records from authoritative sources. Only USA Rugby shall have the right to contest the individual’s Women’s Division status or challenge the presumption of an athlete registered as ‘Female.’”

In July, the USOPC updated its athlete safety policy to indicate compliance with Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. 

However, Trump has also pushed for mandatory genetic testing of athletes to protect the women’s category at the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics amid concerns over forged birth certificates allowing biological males to gain access to women’s sports.

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The USA Rugby goal line flag before a match between the United States and Scotland at Audi Field July 12, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images for Scottish Rugby)

USOPC Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Finnoff said at the USOPC media summit in October the SRY gene tests being used by World Athletics and World Boxing are “not common” in the U.S. but suggested the USOPC is exploring options to employ sex testing options for its own teams and that he expects other world governing bodies to “follow suit.” 

“It’s not necessarily very common to get this specific test in the United States, and, so, our goal in that was helping to identify labs and options for the athletes to be able to get that testing. And (it was) based on that experience and knowing that some other international federations likely will be following suit,” Finnoff said. 

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