During the Summer Olympics a while ago, a lot of discussion went on about the inclusion of trans people in sports. A lot of these discussions have been focused on trans women and trans feminine people in women’s sports. Dirty River Roller Derby states in its guidelines explicitly that we support trans players, and do not allow transphobia or trans misogyny. Excluding trans women and trans feminine people from sports is not only harmful to trans people, but to all women, especially black and brown women (cis and trans) who are often the target of transmisogyny.

Roller Derby from its origin is intended to be an inclusive sport, and even though the sport has not always been successful on this front, it has always been at its root. Dirty River Roller Derby intends to be a place where we include all kinds of different bodies into sports, this includes trans bodies. We want to be a league where people who haven’t felt welcome or able to play sports can engage with roller derby and its community. There is no one type of body that can play roller derby, all kinds of different bodies can engage in this sport, and by being inclusive to different bodies we hope to make it possible for people to imagine themselves on the track. DRRD is always trying to create an atmosphere of acceptance and love of difference.

Within DRRD we will endeavour to continue looking at our own praxis and prejudice, specifically regarding trans people, especially trans women and trans feminine people. We are driven by our values which everyone of our members agree to comply with. Trans women and trans feminine people are underrepresented in our league, and we will try to examine the reasons for this and continue these conversations internally. We encourage other sports leagues to have these conversations or keep having these conversations as well.