This month, the BJJ media has been abuzz over Alaina Hardie, a trans Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner who was recently awarded her black belt.
Many BJJ and MMA sites claimed Hardie was the first transsexual black belt. BJJ Eastern Europe was the first to report on it, then BJJ World followed suit. And just yesterday, MMA Imports felt the need to once again remind the world about Alaina’s accomplishment.
There’s only one problem: there is absolutely no proof Alaina Hardie is the first trans or transsexual person to be awarded a BJJ black belt.
In fact, in a response to BJJ Eastern Europe, Hardie said she was pretty sure she wasn’t the first transsexual black belt and absolutely certain she wasn’t the first trans black belt:
I want to preemptively say something about this, in the event that things start to get out of hand. I’m making this post public in case anybody creeps my Facebook profile before writing another article. Which, you know, would probably be a good idea. (Not least of all because the entire premise of the article is false: I’m pretty sure I’m not the first transsexual black belt, and I’m absolutely certain I’m not the first trans black belt. Also edited to add: the article is innocuous, but holy cow some of the comments and tags I’m getting already.)
Emphasis added.
Ugh. It begins. My friend and training partner Kelvin Kristarto brought this to my attention. I want to preemptively…
Posted by Alaina Hardie on Sunday, October 1, 2017
We did not want to say anything about this, but after this unsupported claim appeared yesterday in the BJJ/MMA media, we felt the need to set the record straight: there is no evidence Alaina Hardie is the first trans or transsexual black belt.
We ask that the rest of the BJJ and MMA media kindly stop repeating this baseless story.
The post There’s No Proof Alaina Hardie Is The First Trans Black Belt, So Stop Posting About It! appeared first on Jiu-Jitsu Times.