A roller derby league in Victoria, B.C. has called off all of its upcoming games in the United States, as many of its athletes feel unsafe crossing the border.
“If it’s not safe for one of us to go, it’s not safe for any of us to go,” said Nox Sadouski, who competes in the Eves of Destruction league with roughly 130 other people.
Their concerns are linked to executive orders from U.S. President Donald Trump to ban trans athletes from competing in women’s sports and to recognize only two genders.
Sadouski is a trans woman and estimates two-thirds of her fellow athletes are part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Some of them have a gender designation of X in their passports – a label the U.S. is no longer allowing on its travel documents.
“There’s a chance that people could just be turned away,” Sadouski said.
The Trump administration has tightened up border policy and the visa vetting process. In recent weeks, people from other countries have been refused entry into the U.S. or detained, including a Vancouver woman who applied for a work visa at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We can’t control what they’re going to do. We can only control our reaction to it,” Sadouski said.
The league has a charter team, which sees some of the best players competing regularly in the U.S.
“More than half of their games, they usually play in the states,” Sadouski said. “It wasn’t a risk they were willing to take for the entirety of the team to go down to the states because there’s people in the team who would be at risk traveling through the border.”
Every other team in the league agreed.
‘Answer directly. Try not to be evasive.’
Several countries have issued warnings for people who are travelling to the states. Denmark, for example, is advising trans citizens to contact the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen before they leave.
“The White House has issued executive orders that potentially impact folks, who have … X in their passports,” said Scott Railton, a U.S. immigration lawyer in Bellingham, Wash.
“The guidance that seems to be coming out of the U.S. government right now is to declare your gender at birth.”
Railton’s advice for those crossing the border?
“Brief answers. Answer directly. Try not to be evasive in any way,” he said.
The roller derby game cancellations come as many Canadians change travel plans to avoid the U.S., vexed by Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st state.
“There is a bit of a chilling effect with all the uncertainties between the tariffs and immigration restrictions that has pushed clients toward thinking about maybe not coming down to the United States,” Railton said.
Sadouski, whose derby name is Emotional Clustertruck, said there’s reason to be hopeful.
“Despite everything, I believe in people,” she said. “The vast majority of people, when times get tough, they look to each other.”
