Rugby players are speaking out against World Rugby’s proposed ban on transgender women participating in union competition.

“I played club and representative rugby with and against cisgender women who were far bigger than me and many were stronger than me,” Australian rugby union and rugby league athlete Caroline Layt told Outsports. “There’s always the argument about size and strength against transgender women but that’s only one prerequisite to a successful rugby player.”

Prior to her transition in 1995, she was a budding talent at the top grade of rugby union. In an 11-year career in both codes after her transition, she was a standout player on the pitch and a team leader off of it. Today, she covers the sport as a journalist and blogger and has been a voice for equity for women in Rugby.

She told Outsports she is frustrated that World Rugby didn’t consult transgender women who participate in the sport in building this draft proposal. “It just goes to show the steps the patriarchy has taken to exclude any current or former trans rugby playing women in their working group,” Layt said. “They’re happy for us to be injured playing against cisgender men and the same for trans men playing against cis men, so you know whose welfare is important in all of this. It’s not us trans people as we’re once again collateral damage and our lives don’t matter.” Read more via Out Sports