I recently made a new account on lemmy.blahaj.zone, because Iāve been harassed and doxxed on my old account and I wanted a fresh start with a more lighthearted online identity that I could be more open about my gender identity on. Iād heard blahaj zone was good for trans people, so I made my account there. And yeah, autism@lemmy.world removed my post discussing neuronormativism from a queer perspective, but I hoped maybe āthe trans instanceā would be friendlier to trans people.
A couple days after making my account, I saw someone on Blahaj engaging in the tired old cliche of āI hate politics, thereās no politics on my social media and I want to keep it that way!ā Well weāve all heard the joke that the two races are white and political, the two genders are male and political, and the two sexualities are straight and political. Hatred of politics is a transphobic, sexist, and racist trope. And having sufferred harassment and abuse from people inside the queer community who āhated politicsā and saw trans or nonbinary or xenogender identities as political, I knew this kind of speech was going to make bigots feel comfortable saying they also hate politics, and they think us trans people are it.
So, I responded to the transphobia. I started out by attempting to educate them on what politics actually means. But I was interrupted by the Blahaj admin Ada, who told me that politics is āanything I disagree withā, and that indeed politics isnāt welcome on Blahaj. This language was deeply triggering of my past issues dealing with abuse, and I knew from past experience this sort of thing is said by people who are getting ready to say some enbyphobic or racist hate speech. It is especially common for white queer people to talk this way to BIPOC queer people. I tried to reason with Ada, explained the history of the cliche, the trauma itās caused many trans people, and the consequences this kind of speech will have on the community here, making us all less safe.
Ada wasnāt having it. She minimised my concerns by reducing them to my personal trauma while ignoring my wider concerns for othersā safety, and weaponised my PTSD to paint my opinions as invalid because I am mentally ill. She said she owns Blahaj, and she gets to do whatever she wants with it, and nobody is allowed to express a differing opinion, even one that protects trans people, because thatās politics. At the time I thought her concern was me speaking directly to transphobes and making them feel uncomfortable by calling out their actions, so I said Iād just report it instead, and she banned my account.
This behaviour protects transphobes, WILL lead to trans and BIPOC people being harassed on this instance, attacks and gaslights victims of trauma (my concerns canāt be valid because I have a mental illness), and forces out any trans person with a commitment to safety for the community.
The thread where all this happened: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/2143969
That place is an absolute clown show, and not at all a safe haven for trans people. I canāt say Iām surprised, considering its
Vaushite r/196 roots. They even went so far to hurtfully accuse us Hexbear queers of being fake queers, just because we have different political opinions. On Hexbear we have a zero tolerance policy for transphobia.
And that zero tolerance policy would include tropes such as hating politics?
Yes, because we see right through that sort of bullshit.
I came to hexbear and Iām already banned, what gives? https://hexbear.net/u/PM_ME_FAT_ENBIES
The modlog (https://hexbear.net/modlog) shows you were given a reason by a mod: inappropriate username. Iām surprised you would pick such a 196 tier username. In a safe space for trans people, thatās not an appropriate name.
I donāt get why youāre surprised, that was the name in the thread I linked at the bottom of this post. I picked it because Iām a fat enby and Iām gay. Yeah, itās an unfunny joke, but itās a gay unfunny joke