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If you& #39;re a cisgender and heterosexual person who wants to be an ally to LGBTQIA+ streamers please don& #39;t use the LGBTQIA+ tag.
I understand wanting to show that your channel is a safe place for us, but the impact of using the tag is that you drown out LGBTQIA+ content creators.
I understand wanting to show that your channel is a safe place for us, but the impact of using the tag is that you drown out LGBTQIA+ content creators.
There are better ways that show that your channel is safe for us that don& #39;t include drowning out LGBTQIA+ content creators. Show it by moderating your community and actually making it safe. Show it by raising money for LGBTQIA+ causes and by volunteering where you can.
The best way to be an ally is to take action and offer tangible support. Saying that you& #39;re an ally without showing how you are being an ally is performative and hollow. Simply using a tag on Twitch does nothing to show me why I should trust you.
And unfortunately using the tag actually ends up hurting us, and if you were a real ally then you would care about the impact you have on the LGBTQIA+ community. At the end of the day being an ally is a low bar and should be expected of every channel on Twitch.
Using the LGBTQIA+ tag should not be treated as an opportunity to advertise or promote that you& #39;re safe. That should be expected under the Twitch terms of service. People use the LGBTQIA+ tag to find their community on Twitch, not allies promoting that they are safe.
To me, an ally using the tag is like a business putting a rainbow on their product as a show of symbolic support without offering anything tangible to the community. It also shows that they care more about *showing* their support than they do about taking supportive actions.
Be an ally by listening to our needs and concerns; it means thinking critically about how your actions impact us; and it means doing what you can to show tangible support for our community through action.
