Terrified female martial artists say they have pulled out of competitions recently to avoid facing stronger transgender fighters — 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 after complaints about transgender female athletes fighting in recent events.
In one of the jiu jitsu events in Georgia earlier this month, transgender grappler Corissa Griffith took home four gold medals in the women’s competition, while another, Cordelia Gregory, finished second, the feminist newspaper Reduxx said.
NAGA suggests that transgender grapplers are likely competing by simply marking “female” on the registration form and then going unnoticed.
However, a number of women have come forward to complain about safety concerns from uneven matches – not all at NAGA events – which have scared some women so much, they have pulled out of major tournaments to avoid similar encounters.
Jayden Alexander said he cried after fighting a transgender woman at an unspecified event in July – and was so “devastated” and scared, he pulled out of future competitions, including the NAGA competition.
“The simple fact is that men, signing up in combat sports to fight women, is totally unacceptable,” he said.
Jayden Alexander shared in a recent social media post how he has not participated in Jiu Jitsu events to avoid competing with transgender athletes. Instagram / @jayden.scrappy He shared his experience fighting a transgender woman in July. Instagram / @jayden.scrappy
“The experience was horrible and terrifying … I was literally in fight or flight mode,” he said in a video Instagram post.
“We don’t deserve to withdraw from the competition to avoid men fighting. We deserve to have rules and regulations in place that keep us safe and protect us from this situation happening in the first place.”
Last month, Taelor Moore, a 135-pound woman, posted a video of herself battling a 200-pound transgender athlete, which she captioned: “My biggest opponent.”
Although Moore won the fight, his trainer, Jimmy Witt, complained that he “could be seriously injured,” according to Breitbart.
Another fighter, Ansleigh Wilk, said she was not told she would be fighting a transgender woman in the July 8 bout and was left in “panic mode.”
“They felt so strong, I was like, ‘Oh my God’ … I thought I couldn’t beat them,” he said of the match he eventually won.
“It’s always about other girls who are traumatized by this event and the future of women’s wrestling,” she said. “I can’t believe people think this is OK.”
Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Women’s Sports Independent Council, said she has “spoken to four women who have all fought male fighters in the combat sport of Jiu Jitsu.”
“We don’t deserve to exclude ourselves from the competition to avoid men fighting,” argued Alexander.Instagram / @jayden.scrappy
“They are very disappointed. They emailed the federal leadership and were fired,” Smith told Reduxx.
NAGA points out that not all women who speak up have bad experiences at their events.
It also says that the rule is that biological women are always given the option to fight transgender athletes when they become aware of their involvement.
However, NAGA president Kipp Kollar admitted on Instagram that registration for the event only asks competitors whether they are male or female, with no option to declare yourself transgender.
Jayden Alexander said he cried after fighting with a transgender woman at an event on JulyInstagram / @jayden.scrappy
“We’re adding additional text to the events and rules page … to help inform transgender women which section they should enter,” Kollar said.
“Maintaining fairness for female athletes is our priority,” Klopp said, noting that it was “even more important given the high potential for injury in wrestling.”
From now on, “male-to-female transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty are excluded from competing in the women’s division at NAGHA events.”
“Transgender women must compete in the men’s division,” NAGA also said in its policy update Saturday
“We hope that the simplicity of this revised policy will help prevent any future incidents where a transgender woman enters the women’s section,” the policy states, adding: “If NAGA staff are informed that a transgender woman is in the women’s section, they will be given a choice to go to the man’s side or get a refund.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
