<\/p>\n
Andrew Degar and a volunteer demonstrate how to escape an attacker at Third Ward Jiu Jitsu on Saturday, Sept. 20 2026.<\/p>\n
Gwen Howerton<\/p>\n
In an unassuming gym in Houston’s Third Ward<\/a> between a bakery and a tax prep office, a handful of others and I gathered to learn how to protect ourselves if we were in the worst situation of our lives.<\/p>\n Saturday was one of the gym’s community self-defense classes, this one specifically for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Our teacher for the day was Andrew Degar, a healthcare worker who founded Third Ward Jiu-Jitsu with his spouse, Sarah, as a non-profit in 2019. Degar has been in combat sports for 15 years, and both he and his spouse had seen firsthand how unwelcoming gyms could often be for women and LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “When we first thought about doing it as just a program within another gym, we realized not a lot of other gym owners saw the vision that we see,” Degar told me. “So we built our own gym.”<\/p>\n For many LGBTQ+ Texans and Houstonians, the ability to defend themselves is pressing. According to 2025 data from the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ+ research center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, people who identify as LGBTQ+ are nine times more likely to experience violent hate crimes than non-LGBTQ+ people. Texas alone has been a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, with state lawmakers passing bill after bill that crack down on LGBTQ+ expression. And last year, a report from GLAAD found over 60 instances of hate incidents<\/a> against the community in Texas, such as assaults, vandalism, and threats of mass shootings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Degar and his spouse got their space in Third Ward in late 2019 and officially opened in January of 2020. Still, the two realized that even with an open and affirming policy for LGBTQ+ people interested in jiu-jitsu, the idea of showing up to a general introductory class could be daunting. So in 2023, they launched a special, twice-a-month class series centered around community self-defense for women and LGBTQ+ Houstonians.<\/p>\n “People may not see a jiu-jitsu gym and think of it as a safe space,” Degar said. “So us inviting them into a queer-only community class, we figured would be a good start.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Stickers and fliers at Third Ward Jiu Jitsu.<\/p>\n Gwen Howerton<\/p>\n The theme of Saturday’s class was “Pinned Escapes.” The idea was relatively straightforward\u2014what if I’m out and about and somebody pushes me to the ground, with their whole weight on top of me? Degar would teach us how to wriggle out from an attacker and either de-escalate or fight back, if necessary. While would-be participants assume that combat sports, particularly jiu-jitsu, are about high-powered strikes and knockout blows, de-escalation is key to how Degar teaches self-defense.<\/p>\n “People assume self-defense is fighting the person in the padded suit, and that’s not real life,” Degar said. “If a 100-pound, small-framed person tried punching and kicking a person who’s 250 pounds, they may not be able to be successful.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “Everyone has the chance to learn something that they’re capable of.”<\/p>\n Back in class, we partnered up. My first partner was Callie, who runs Third Ward Jiu-Jitsu’s social media page and tends to the gym’s plants. Saturday was her first time attending the LGBTQ+ self-defense class. We took turns lying on top of each other, trying to use our weight to push each other off. Degar taught us how, while laying on our backs, to push our hips up in a “bridge” position and twist to throw an attacker off. At no point was my goal to punch or kick Callie, but rather to escape their grasp. We laughed as we took turns practicing the movements on each other. I was surprised how easy it felt.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Degar told me that he wants to show people that keeping themselves safe is never as hard as they might think. Attendees often tell Degar that they didn’t think they could perform the moves shown in class, but he told me that his emphasis is on showcasing self-defense “for people who don’t move their body.”<\/p>\n Participants pose after an LGBTQ+ focused self-defense class at Third Ward Jiu Jitsu on Saturday, September 20, 2026.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Third Ward Jiu Jitsu. <\/p>\n “They’re very direct, straightforward movements that anyone of any level of athleticism can perform, and that’s how we teach our classes,” Degar said. “We want to make sure that everyone has the chance to learn something that they’re capable of.”<\/p>\n An attendee named Gabby and I practiced swiveling out of our pinned position so that we could grab an attacker’s hands and hold them against us. Degar underscored that in this position we could de-escalate. But because, as he said towards the end of class, a possible confrontation is “never gonna go how you think it’s gonna go,” he showed us how to do a kick, if necessary. Still, he stressed that this was a last resort.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Smart, funny and sometimes unhinged look at the week that was.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We want people to not have to resort to violence that they may not be capable of,” Degar told me.\u00a0<\/p>\n Degar, who along with the LGBTQ+ class teaches a class for women, said that he believes it is paramount that marginalized people have the tools to protect themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We protect us \u2026 it’s kind of our motto,” Degar said. “We know that we can’t rely on the police to protect our community. We know we can’t wait for others to step up for us. We need to build community to protect our community.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Degar and a volunteer demonstrate how to escape an attacker at Third Ward Jiu Jitsu on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2466,144047,1704,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-449725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chronculture","tag-chronlgbtq","tag-chronstaff","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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