"This shows how effective a boycott is" - Riley Gaines on North American Grappling Association revising their transgender policy

By Janhavi Shinde

Modified Mar 13, 2024 12:32 GMT

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Riley Gaines, an advocate for women's rights, praised the new transgender policies revised by the North American Grappling Association (NAGA), the sporting body for mixed martial arts.

The North American Grappling Association revised their policy relating to the participation of transgender female athletes in competitions. At a recent Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, held on October 21, 2023, transgender athletes completely overtook the women's category. Several women withdrew from the competitions after being forced to compete against trans athletes.

One noticeable example was Corissa Griffith, a trans-identified male who competed in the women’s category and grabbed four medals in Georgia. After the female athletes boycotted the competitions, NAGA announced a revision regarding the participation of trans athletes, stating that henceforth only cisgender females will compete in the women's category, and the transgender female athletes will compete in the men's category.

Applauding the revised policies, Riley Gaines took to social media to express her views and gave credit to the women who refrained from competing in the event.

"Almost immediately following the boycott of female athletes and backlash received after allowing males to compete in the women's division, NAGA has revised its transgender policy," Gaines said.

"This shows how effective a boycott is and how powerful public opinion is. More of this," Gaines added.

Riley Gaines praises Ansleigh Wilk for taking a stand against trans athletes competing in the women's category

Riley Gaines praised Ansleigh Wilk for standing against trans athletes competing in the women's category.

Ansleigh Wilk fought against Cordelia Gregory, a trans-identified male in the competition. The previous NAGA regulations required the officials to inform the female athletes if they were competing against any trans-gender athlete and only go ahead if the female athlete agreed to compete.

However, Wilk stated that she wasn't notified and this was brought to her attention only by her teammates.

“I hadn’t been notified. The only thing that brought it to my attention was my teammates. They kept asking me ‘are you fighting a man’ and I was honestly too focused," she said in Reduxx.

“The majority of the women feel scared to even speak out about this matter. They don’t want to be labeled a bigot or transphobic,” said Wilk.

Riley Gaines praised Wilk's courage in protesting against the incident that occured at the tournament and credited her for NAGA's decision to revise the policies.

"This wouldn't have been done without @ReduxxMag and @icons_women exposure of the issue as well as the brave female athletes like @Ansleigh_mma who have taken a stand for women," Gaines praised.

"Without them, these discriminatory policies would still be in place," she added.