England bans transgender women from playing on women’s soccer teams [Video]

Transgender women will be banned from playing on women’s soccer teams in England following a U.K. Supreme Court ruling last month, the sport’s governing body said Thursday.

The Football Association (FA) said it had decided to change its rules that had allowed transgender athletes to play on women’s soccer teams if they had reduced testosterone levels. The Scottish Football Association made a similar decision last week.

The U.K’s highest court issued a ruling two weeks ago that defined a woman for anti-discrimination purposes as someone born biologically female. The head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said after the ruling that transgender women would be excluded from women’s toilets, hospital wards and sports teams.

While the ruling was cheered by some feminist groups, it has been condemned by trans-rights groups who said it would have a broad and detrimental impact on daily life.

The FA said its policy had been to make the sport accessible to as many people as possible …