These resources have been collected to support our members and all participants to understand available gender categories and eligibility criteria under REG 4.3 for BUCS’ competitions. The live document can be found here. While we will do our best to update it on the release of new policies or positions, at some points the information may become out of date. If you notice any information that is incorrect or out of date, please do reach out to us at [email protected].
This information has been updated on 25 September 2025 with the following changes:
- Archery GB - policy and summary updated.
- British Fencing - policy and summary updated.
- Scottish Cricket - interim position has been communicated until their policy is approved. We expect an update on w/c 6 October.
- Scottish Volleyball - policy and summary has been updated. They are planning to release their own policy shortly.
- Football Association of Wales - policy provided and summary updated. This policy is under review.
- Table Tennis England - policy has been updated to reflect communication from NGB. While their new policy is being consulted on, we should follow the September 2022 guidelines.
- Scotland Hockey - policy has been updated and summary updated.
The document consolidates the information across different nations and NGBs that use different definitions and gender category eligibility criteria. To provide clarity, in our 'Summary' section, we have simplified some of the language and where possible, prioritised using language chosen by the community it describes. NGBs' policies may use different language, and we have flagged where we believe this language may be distressing to trans+ students. If you feel we have incorrectly described gender category eligibility criteria, please do reach out to us at [email protected].
We have intended the ‘Filter by policy content’ column to be used by members and participants to easily find BUCS competitions that trans+ students can compete in.
‘Self-ID’ in this context means that trans+ students can compete in their affirmed gender without restrictions. This could mean that BUCS only offers an ‘Open’ option to compete in a sport, or it could mean that the NGB has a position with no restrictions on their categories.
‘Women's/Female or Men's/Open category has some barriers to entry’ refers to NGB positions where there are some restrictions in place, which could involve measuring of testosterone levels. Where we offer a ‘Mixed’ option and there is a minimum requirement for a gender category (for example that a team must have at least one woman and one man) and that gender category has restrictions to meet for entry, it would be considered within this label.
'Women's/Female category has the most conditions to meet for entry’ refers to NGB positions where either the ‘Women’s/Female’ category is restricted to students assigned female at birth or students assigned male at birth who have not experienced male puberty past Tanner Stage 2, among other restrictions. The restriction of accessible puberty blockers in the UK raises this barrier to entry however, international trans+ students may still be able to compete.
In the ‘Area’ section, this refers to the nation(s) the event/league will take place in for the season 2025-6. In some cases, we will have to use the International Federation policy which is why you might see ‘World’ in this column.
Here is a terminology guide for our summary section:
Cis: describes someone whose gender matches their sex assigned at birth
Intersex: an umbrella term used to encompass a range of differences within sexual characteristics that sits outside of the male/female binary. Within sports, intersex people are often described as 'DSD' (Differences in Sex Development)
Gonadectomy: a surgical procedure involving the removal of the gonads or reproductive organs (testes or ovaries)
Non-binary: a term for people whose gender does not sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman.’
Nmol/L: refers to nanomoles per litre
Self-ID: refers to BUCS competitions in which students can self-identify into the gender categories that best align with their gender. In some cases, this label has been given to sports in which we run ‘Open’ categories only and all gender identities are welcome.
Tanner stage 2: refers to the beginning of physical development of puberty
Trans man: describes a man who was assigned female at birth
Trans woman: describes a woman who was assigned male at birth
Trans+: an umbrella term to refer to those who's gender identity is different to, or does not sit comfortably with, their sex assigned at birth
