The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) has been a proponent of allowing transgender “women” to compete with biological women at a tournament. Martial artists Jayden Alexander and Ansleigh Wilk found themselves competing with these men with no warning when they arrived. Alexander explained to Reduxx that she never expected NAGA to allow such a thing to happen.
Wilk said, “They kept asking me, ‘Are you fighting a man’ and I was honestly too focused on coaching the rest of the crew to really pay attention to my opponent.”
A multi-time champion, she is world-renowned for her coaching and expertise as a competitor. “I realized very quickly I couldn’t muscle them like most girls…Well obviously, because it wasn’t a girl! Then not long after, I had to do a second match of which Cordelia threw a tantrum, saying [he] ‘didn’t tap [out].’ I was sincerely scared [he] was going to punch me when I stuck my hand out to shake [his].”
Per the original NAGA policy, the organization gave biological women a choice to compete with a transgender fighter or remail only against women. This puts these ladies at a real disadvantage and leaves them in a tough space where they could look bad for saying no.
As of October 28th, they came to their senses and changed the policy.
“We, as an organization, strive to ensure fairness, inclusivity, and respect for all competitors within our events,” the updated policy began. “We will have divisions for only biological females. Transgender females will not be entered into these divisions. Transgender females must compete in the men’s division. We hope that the simplicity of this revised policy will help to avoid any future occurrences where transgender females enter women’s divisions. If NAGA staff is informed that a transgender female is in a women’s division, they will be given the choice to go to the men’s division or given a refund.”
Smart move NAGA. Just like Victoria’s Secret and Bud Light, you’re finally seeing the forest for the trees.
