They Want Us!

With all they sports bans on trans athletes, one sport is welcoming us with open arms!

After a county restricted transgender women in sports, a roller derby league said, ‘No way’

AP News

BY PHILIP MARCELO

March 27, 2024

They zip around the rink, armed with helmets, pads and mouthguards. They push, bump and occasionally crash out as they jostle for position on the hardwood floor.

But for the women of the Long Island Roller Rebels, their biggest battle is taking place outside the suburban strip-mall roller rink where they’re girding for the upcoming roller derby season.

The nearly 20-year-old amateur league is suing a county leader over an executive order meant to prevent women’s and girl’s leagues and teams with transgender players from using county-run parks and fields. The league’s legal effort, backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, has thrust it into the national discussion over the rights of transgender athletes.

Amanda Urena, the league’s vice president, said there was never any question the group would take a stand.

“The whole point of derby has been to be this thing where people feel welcome,” said the 32-year-old Long Island native, who competes as “Curly Fry” and identifies as queer, at a recent practice at United Skates of America in Seaford. “We want trans women to know that we want you to come play with us, and we’ll do our very best to keep fighting and making sure that this is a safe space for you to play.”

I knew of a trans woman who was on a local roller derby team, until she broke something and decided it wasn’t her sport.

The latest revival started in the early 2000s and has been sustained by LGBTQ+ people, with leagues frequently taking part in Pride parades and holding fundraising matches, Atwell said.

“You come in here and you say, ‘I’m a trans woman. I’m a nonbinary person. I’m genderqueer.’ OK? We accept you,” said Caitlin Carroll, a Roller Rebel who competes as “Catastrophic Danger.” “The world is scary enough. You should have a safe place to be.”

Um… I don’t how to put this to you but roller derbies is not exactly for cupcakes, it is known for broken bones. As my friend showed. But they are also very LGBTQ+ friendly!

The ban could even lead to cisgender female athletes who are strong and muscular being falsely labeled transgender and disqualified, as has happened elsewhere, said Shane Diamond, a transgender man who plays recreational LGBTQ+ ice hockey in New York City.

“It creates a system where any young woman who doesn’t fit the stereotypical idea of femininity and womanhood is at risk of having her gender questioned or gender policed,” Diamond said.

We have seen it this past February when ABC News wrote,

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and other local leaders are calling for the resignation of Utah state school board member Natalie Cline after she falsely suggested a girl playing on a high school basketball team was transgender in a now-deleted Facebook post.

The girl quickly became the target of threats and harassment online, with the girl's family speaking out about the incident in an interview with Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX.

The British newspaper Independent reported that,

A grandparent shut down a school sports event when he falsely accused a nine-year-old with a “pixie” haircut of being trans.

The youngster was taking part in a shot-put competition when the relative of one of the other participants disrupted the event in the Canadian town of Kelowna, British Columbia.

“She went to step up to compete for the grade four shot-put final, and right before she went to throw, a grandfather of a student said, ‘Hey, this is supposed to be a girls’ event, and why are you letting boys compete.’ My daughter is cisgender, born female, uses she/her pronouns. She has a pixie haircut,” her mother Heidi Starr told Castanet.

Also in Canada CBC reported,

A B.C. family has garnered sympathy online — and international media attention — after sharing what they described as an incident in which a man questioned their nine-year-old daughter's gender during a sporting event.

They say the incident occurred during a track-and-field meet at the Apple Bowl Stadium in Kelowna, B.C., organized by the Central Okanagan School District for elementary school students.

Heidi Starr said her daughter, who is cisgender and has a pixie cut, was preparing for a shot put contest when a man approached a parent volunteer, pointed to the nine-year-old and, mistaking her for a boy, questioned why a boy was participating in a girls' event.

The gender police are going after anyone who do not fit their idea of what a girl should look like.