Sports
Rookies & Vets: D.C. Furies
The local women’s rugby league welcomes all
Leni Dworkis, left, and Amanda Bauer, members of the D.C. Furies. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)
The Blade’s ongoing series on the rookies and veterans that make up the local sports teams takes a look this week at two LGBT players on the Washington Women’s Rugby Football Club, better known as the D.C. Furies.
The Furies are one of the longest running women’s rugby clubs in the nation and compete in the Women’s Premiere League along with fielding a team in Division II of the Capital Geographic Rugby Union.
Spring and fall league play consists of 15s (i.e. 15 players) matches locally and throughout the United States along with 7s (i.e. seven players) tournaments during the summer months. A number of the Furies players are currently members of the 15s and 7s Women’s National Team selection pools.
The team also hosted its 36th annual Ruggerfest tournament in April which drew 34 teams.
Amanda Bauer moved to D.C. on June 1 and was at her first practice with the Furies within the first week of her residence here. She has already played at two tournaments with the B team in Richmond, Va., and Cape Fear, N.C.
While rookies don’t usually integrate so quickly into the Furies, Bauer had been playing club rugby right up until she moved to D.C. Growing up in Apple Valley, Minn., Bauer played ice hockey through middle school and competed in tennis and track and field in high school. It was during her years at St Olaf College that she picked up running and played club rugby.
“It was difficult at the first practice with the Furies because everyone was already friends,” Bauer says. “That quickly faded away though as everyone really puts out an effort to get know you. I think that works both ways when a rookie joins a team.”
Since Bauer started toward the beginning of the summer season, she was able to benefit from drills sessions with the veterans before segueing into scrimmages between the two Furies teams.
“I have been doing a lot of listening and watching during the practices,” Bauer says. “The on-field verbal signals are different from my last team and easier to interpret here. There is strong team chemistry amongst the players on this team.”
Bauer’s job as an economic research assistant is a junior position which means she will be in D.C. for at least two years. She is hoping to work her way to the Furies A team in that time.
“I love going to practice and being dedicated to work as hard as I can,” Bauer says. “It’s nice that both teams practice together; there is no discrimination between the two.”
Leni Dworkis grew up in Harrington Park, N.J. competing in gymnastics and was a member of the cheerleading squad in high school. After she started at George Washington University, she switched over to competitive ballroom dancing until one of her roommates started pestering her to give rugby a try.
“I was struggling to find my place personally,” Dworkis says, “and once I saw all the aggression and team camaraderie in rugby, I was sold.”
Dworkis, who works as a research analyst at the Vera Institute of Justice, stayed on at G.W. for graduate school and played a fifth year with its club rugby team. After her eligibility ended, she joined the Furies in 2013.
She says she had a hard time fitting in at first because of her shyness. Now a veteran player on the Furies A team in the wing position, Dworkis plays all three seasons and serves as the recruitment chair.
To help with the integration of rookies, the Furies hold skills clinics, have one-on-one practices and have the veterans focus on in-practice interaction. Socially, there are house parties, rookie nights, dancing and team-building events.
“We go out every Thursday in the summers and I love how open everyone is with each other,” Dworkis says. “It makes me proud to see the team bonding and the friendships blossoming.”
Because of what the players consider a stereotype of women rugby players being lesbians, the Furies don’t market themselves as an LGBT league.
“We want to avoid that stigma and be more approachable to straight players,” Dworkis says. “This sport is mutual grounds and we create a safe space for everyone.”
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
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