Read on Twitter
Ok I'm shaking a little.
How can I put this nicely.
I am not anti gay.
I am not inserting myself anywhere.
This person obviously knows nothing about me, or how I identify.
How can I put this nicely.
I am not anti gay.
I am not inserting myself anywhere.
This person obviously knows nothing about me, or how I identify.
How DARE you call me dangerous and divisive for using the term queer to discuss the rep in my books which at this stage includes gay, bi, lesbian, non-binary, ace and trans rep. So it is not "just gay teens".
How DARE you assume you know anything about me.
How DARE you assume you know anything about me.
I'll come back with more words later but right now I just feel violently sick so. Yeah. I'll come back later.
Ok so this person is obviously transphobic and biphobic. I'm surprised at the visceral reaction I had on reading it. I think on reflection, without getting too open, it comes back to insecurities and narratives about who belongs in the community, which is exhausting.
I will say that my initial gut reaction was to want to defend myself by disclosing things I haven't spelled out in public before, but I chose not to because a) the people I want to know, know, and b) I have very strong opinions on people being bullied into disclosures.
I probably *shouldn't* leave this up given it's from a person who's obviously trying to be inflammatory, but I'm going to anyway. Not because I think it'll change his behaviour, but because I want people to be more aware of the language used against some community members.
Because women and nb people DO feel unwelcome in the community sometimes. The vast majority of people are wonderful. But stuff like this needs to be explicitly condemned, or we're implicitly contributing to a culture that picks and chooses who's valued.
If we pretend it's not happening, we might see ourselves as simply not feeding the trolls, but if a young person comes across this and doesn't see it specifically challenged or opposed anywhere, what message does it send to them? What might it do to their mental health?
To clarify, I'm NOT suggesting anybody interacts with this person!!
What I'm saying is, this happens more often than it should, and if you disagree with it, please remember to explicitly acknowledge and value the *whole* community when in discussions. Out or not.
What I'm saying is, this happens more often than it should, and if you disagree with it, please remember to explicitly acknowledge and value the *whole* community when in discussions. Out or not.
*** I realised I said women and nb people when I meant to say women, nb and AFAB people.
