layers not ignored by raycast

Hey,

I'm doing 4 raycasts from my character; up, down, forward, backward, so he won't be able to move when he hits something. I want to ignore a certain few objects that the character should be able to move through. I've made a new layer and selected it on my objects.

I've made a new layermask variable and selected the new layer in it. Then when I do a raycast, it doesn't ignore the layer, because my character still stops when it hits the object. The objects have colliders set as triggers so that shouldn't be the problem.

Here's the code:

         bool rayboolforward = Physics.Raycast (transform.position, transform.forward, 3f, layersToIgnore );
         bool rayboolbackward = Physics.Raycast (transform.position, -transform.forward, 3f, layersToIgnore);
 
         if(!rayboolforward && !rayboolbackward)
         {
             //do something
         }

layerstoignore is the public variable.

I've also tried to use

         int layermask = 1 << 10;
         bool rayboolforward = Physics.Raycast (transform.position, transform.forward, 3f, layermask );
         bool rayboolbackward = Physics.Raycast (transform.position, -transform.forward,  3f, layermask);

But this doesn't help either.

I tried to get some more info:

         RaycastHit hit;
         int layermask = 1 << 10;
         bool rayboolforward = Physics.Raycast (transform.position, transform.forward, out hit, 3f, layermask );
         bool rayboolbackward = Physics.Raycast (transform.position, -transform.forward, out hit, 3f, layermask);

but anything I try to do with 'hit' results in a nullreferenceexception.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Any one who can help me with this?