- The backlash has forced the world’s largest grappling association to change its transgender participant policy
- Female fighters spoke out about feeling ‘scared’ and ‘unsafe’ during matches
- Several women boycotted a competition in October saying they weren’t warned they would be fighting transgender women in recent months
Over the summer, videos of female competitors fighting transgender challengers went viral, and sparked outcries over fairness and safety. Some noted the transgender participants were much heavier than the female opponents.
The policy had stated that women would not be forced to compete against transgender fighters – but several women said that isn’t the case and they boycotted a late-October tournament in Georgia.
At that event, one of the transgender women, Corissa Griffith, took home four gold medals. Another transgender competitor, Cordelia Gregory, placed second in a tournament.
Sharing their update last week, NAGA said: ‘We, as an organization, strive to ensure fairness, inclusivity, and respect for all competitors within our events.
‘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 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.’