Effective as of 4/22, Gotham Girls Roller Derby (GGRD) will be changing our name to Gotham Roller Derby (GRD) to better reflect our community and the evolution of our sport.
Founded in 2003, Gotham Roller Derby is New York City’s only skater-operated roller derby league for cisgender, transgender and intersex women and gender non-conforming participants. The league is comprised of strong, diverse, and independent members and committed to fostering competition and community while representing our city on and off the track.
In the time since our league was created, we have aspired to create a more inclusive culture for non-binary and gender expansive participants and want our name to represent our membership. The decision to change the name was made in 2019 and we are excited to be formally making this shift to ensure that our name is reflective of our community as it is and as we wish it to be.
While we’ve been pursuing this name change for some time, we’ve faced key delays this year due to COVID-19, the decision to move out of our practice space, and the implementation of a new strategic plan to address these challenges. As a DIY organization, we are powered by volunteers and we’re grateful to the league members who made this name change a reality.
With our name change effective immediately, we have also made the decision to pursue a logo redesign given concerns raised by the league around inclusivity. Gotham’s present logo is a white, feminine, thin, and non-disabled figure-head, which sends a signal of who the community and sport is for. This signal is not reflective of our present membership nor the community that Gotham wishes to nurture. Until we have established the new logo, we will be using a temporary placeholder, which is our current logo with the updated name.
We recognize that this rebrand is just one piece of our efforts to make the community more inclusive and that there is still much work to be done. As we reflect and take action on the many changes that need to happen within our league, this logo redesign is moving forward alongside a number of streams of work around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
