Trans Athletes Banned After Multiple Complaints from Female Competitors

(UnitedVoice.com) – The issue of whether sports organizations should allow trans athletes to participate in female sports is very divisive. Many people believe it gives athletes who are biological men an unfair advantage over biological women in a space where women have been fighting for equality. There was such an uproar over the possibility of trans women being allowed to participate in one sport that an organization reversed its stance.

At the end of October, Kip Kollar, the president of the North American Grappling Association (NAGA), announced male-to-female transgender athletes would not be allowed to compete in female divisions in its organization. He said the decision was made to maintain “fairness for female athletes,” and he wants to ensure that protecting its female athletes is the league’s “paramount priority.”

Kollar explained that his decision was not unusual. FINA, the body that governs swimming, World Rugby, and other sports organizations, has made similar announcements. The issue is specifically with biological men who have gone through puberty as teenagers. The thought is that they will receive an unfair advantage. Also, Kollar pointed out that it was even more important to ban those athletes “given the heightened potential for injury in grappling.”

According to reports, the decision to ban trans women came after the league received multiple complaints from female athletes. Jayden Alexander, one of the league’s athletes, was among those who took issue with grappling with biological males. She said that she was horrified when she saw a trans athlete competing at one of the events, saying it was an experience that she found “horrible and scary,” and she felt as though she were in “fight or flight mode.”

After NAGA made the announcement, Alexander spoke to Fox News Digital and said she was very happy with the decision. She went on to say that she doesn’t believe that trans athletes should be completely banned, but she doesn’t think that someone who was born a male “should be allowed in the biological females division.”