Horrified female martial artists say they have withdrawn from recent competitions to avoid facing much stronger transgender fighters; They’re forcing a major organization to revise its rules to ensure trans women can now only face men.
The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) said it was overhauling its rules following complaints about transgender female athletes fighting at recent events.
Feminist publication Reduxx said that at one of the jiu jitsu events held in Georgia earlier this month, transgender grappler Corissa Griffith won four gold medals in women’s competitions, while Cordelia Gregory took second place.
NAGA suggested that transgender hunters likely competed by checking “female” on registration forms and then competing unnoticed.
However, some women have come forward to complain about safety fears resulting from unequal matchups, not all of which have happened at NAGA events; This scared some people so much that they withdrew from major tournaments to avoid similar encounters.
Jayden Alexander said he broke down in tears after fighting a transgender woman at an unspecified event in July and was so “devastated” and scared that he withdrew from future competitions, including NAGA.
“The simple fact of the matter is that it is completely unacceptable for men to participate in combat sports to fight women,” she said.
“This experience was terrifying and frightening… I was definitely in fight or flight mode,” she said in a video post on Instagram.
“We don’t deserve to exclude ourselves from competitions to avoid fighting men. “We deserve to have rules and regulations in place that will keep us safe and protect us from situations like this happening.”
Last month, Taelor Moore, a 135-pound woman, posted a video of herself fighting a 200-pound transgender athlete and wrote in the caption: “My greatest opponent ever.”
Although Moore won the fight, his coach Jimmy Witt complained that he “could have been seriously injured,” according to Breitbart.
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Another fighter, Ansleigh Wilk, said she was not told she would be fighting a transgender woman at a July 8 contest and was left in “panic mode.”
“They felt so strong that I said, ‘Oh my God’… I thought I couldn’t beat them,” he said of the match he eventually won.
“This was always about other girls who were traumatized by this event and about the future of women’s grappling,” she said. “I can’t believe people think this is okay.”
Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Women’s Sports Council, said she “spoke with four women in the combat sport of Jiu Jitsu, all of whom fought male fighters.”
“They are extremely upset. “They’re emailing Federation leadership and getting fired,” Smith told Reduxx.
NAGA emphasized that not all women who spoke out had bad experiences at events.
It also stated in its rules that biological women should always be given the option to compete with transgender athletes if they are aware of their involvement.
But NAGA president Kipp Kollar acknowledged on Instagram that when registering for events, contestants are only asked whether they are male or female and do not have the option to declare themselves transgender.
“We are adding additional text to the event and rules page to help inform transgender women which section they should enter,” Kollar said.
“Maintaining fairness for female athletes is our top priority,” Klopp said, noting that this was “even more important given the increased potential for injury during grappling.”
From now on, “male-to-female transgender athletes who have passed puberty will be excluded from competing in the women’s division at NAGHA events.”
“Transgender women are required to compete in the men’s division,” NAGA said in an update Saturday.
“We hope that the simplicity of this revised policy will help prevent any future incidents involving transgender women entering women’s areas,” the policy states, adding: “If NAGA staff are notified that a transgender woman is in women’s areas, they will either “I was given the option to go to the department or get a refund.”
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