For Juniper Simonis, that night in 2012 replays like the start of a favorite movie. It’s a warm summer evening, and she’s speeding through Ithaca, New York, on her bike. The wind is in her hair — at least as much as it could be under a bike helmet. Mariee Siou, the American folk singer, is blasting through her headphones. The moment is memorable because of the feelings of freedom and hope sparked by an email she has just received. It says that the Ithaca League of Women Rollers derby team voted to allow her to play, in line with roller derby's history of inclusion.

“As somebody who played sports and was queer, but those were two very separate parts of my life, the promise and the opportunity … to integrate those was very hopeful for me.”

Simonis is transgender. She had been voted on by an all-women’s team.

“Getting a message that was like, ‘You are welcome,’ was very, obviously, very uplifting.”

Years before trans athletes in sports embroiled national politics, roller derby — the five-player high-contact sport with punk rock nicknames — tackled the question of inclusion. The policies and practices are often imperfect. Transgender women and men as well as athletes of color still face discrimination in the sport. But time and again, its athletes have opted to remain inclusive.

Nicole Williams, known as Bonnie Thunders on the track, is widely considered to be the greatest derby skater of all time and often referred to as the “LeBron James” of the sport. She’s been skating for 20 years and has seen the sport evolve on trans issues.

She acknowledges that there was a time when she and other skaters knew less about trans women and what it might mean to skate with them, but the experience of actually playing with them changed minds over the years. She says a sport that excludes trans people just doesn’t make sense to her.

Read the full article about roller derby's history of inclusion by Kate Sosin at The 19th.