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'It's a heartbreaking situation': Trans rights activists target England Women's training session

Trans activists crash England Women's Twickenham training session - JULIAN SIMMONDS
Trans activists crash England Women's Twickenham training session - JULIAN SIMMONDS

Trans rights activists descended on an England Women's training session at Twickenham to express "heartbreak" over rugby's new gender restrictions.

Emily Hamilton, 46, who was among 15 protesters waving pink and blue flags at the open session, claimed top names in the sport were privately supportive of her cause. "I'm a Harlequins fan, a trans woman and an ex-player of 18 seasons, but as of last week I'm prohibited from playing rugby now," said the founding co-chair of the QuinsPride supporters group.

"We will not be going away until our voices are heard."

The group have pledged to repeatedly stage protests after the RFU's council voted a fortnight ago to ban trans women from competing in female-only forms. Another campaigner among the crowd hinted that legal options were being considered to challenge the decision in court.

"It is a heartbreaking situation," the protester added. About 30 protesters also gathered at the RFU's headquarters prior to last month's vote.

Trans activists crash England Women's Twickenham training session - JULIAN SIMMONDS
Trans activists crash England Women's Twickenham training session - JULIAN SIMMONDS

On Thursday, as some of the same group joined 1,500 fans watching the Red Roses being put through their paces, Hamilton said she and the trans community had effectively been told by rugby that "we're not welcome". Rules have been tightened across a host of sports in recent months amid the highly-charged debate around ensuring fair competition for women.

On Wednesday, the Irish Rugby Football Union joined its English counterpart in banning transgender women from competing in female contact rugby games. In a statement, the IRFU said: "Recent peer reviewed research provides evidence that there are physical differences between those people whose sex was assigned as male and those as female at birth, and advantages in strength, stamina and physique brought about by male puberty are significant and retained even after testosterone suppression."

Trans activists crash England Women's Twickenham training session - JULIAN SIMMONDS
Trans activists crash England Women's Twickenham training session - JULIAN SIMMONDS

In 2020, World Rugby became the first international sports federation to rule that transgender women could not compete at the elite and international level of the women's game. Hamilton, however, said the rules have sparked an explosion of bigotry aimed at the trans community.

"The contagion from this is massive," she said. "As a trans rugby fan, all of the anxieties I thought had gone away years ago have come back today here just coming to Twickenham.  I was worried 'what would be my reception', 'how would I be seen coming into the ground'? Those are things I put behind me, and they're all back now because of this awful stoking of a culture war."

The Red Roses, unbeaten in their past 23 test matches, held their open session as part of a pre-season training camp. They are among the favourites ahead of the Women's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.