this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
195 points (100.0% liked)

Blahaj Lemmy Meta

86 readers
1 users here now

Blåhaj Lemmy is a Lemmy instance attached to blahaj.zone. This is a group for questions or discussions relevant to either instance.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Whilst this is not a local only post/community, it is primarily intended for blahaj lemmy members. Top level replies from non blahaj accounts will be removed.

=======

I want to take the moment to clarify the Blahaj Lemmy position on things, given recent events and the fallout that has followed. This will give people the chance to decide for themselves if blahaj zone lemmy is the right space for them, or if it doesn't meet their needs.

First and foremost, blahaj zone lemmy exists to give a space for queer folk to exist, with their needs explicitly protected as the highest priority, and with a particular focus on the needs of gender diverse folk. Most lemmy instances are not run by trans folk, and whilst many are still inclusive, they don't always prioritise our needs. Others barely consider trans folk, and react only to the most blatant of bigotry.

We are not a political instance, however political communities have a space here, as does any community that is actively protective of the needs of queer and gender diverse folk. Given the impact of politics on gender diverse folk, that means lots of dialogue and strong opinions exist, and as long as those opinions are honestly held, and not bigoted or exclusive, people are welcome to have and express those opinions here.

For what it's worth, I am a member of the Greens Party in Australia. I have no time for the middle ground politics of the Australian Labor party, let alone the right wing beliefs of the Australian Liberal party. Yet a community of queer Labor Party aligned folk would fit on blahaj lemmy, because the parties ideologies, are not explicitly anti queer. A community aligned with the Australian Liberal party likely would not have a place here, unless the goal of the community was to work at actively challenging the anti queer policies of the party.

That being said, political communities (or any other communities) that exist solely to target and take aim at other queer folk have no place here either. The goal of blahaj lemmy is queer inclusion, and a community whose sole goal is division, will be removed.

The downside to this is that as we assume good faith in members and we don't gatekeep or deny access to people because of their pronouns or gender identity, (even when those identities are challenging to many) it is possible for bad faith actors to take advantage of our inclusive policies. Unfortunately, that's just something we are going to have to navigate as it occurs, because I won't let bad faith folk push this instance to defaulting to exclusion or gatekeeping the validity of someone's identity. I will respect a trolls pronouns even as I ban them, because to not do so, normalises the idea that pronouns are something that are earned by good behaviour, or that other people have a say in the validity of another person's identity and pronouns.

So that's where we stand. Hopefully this will help people decide for themselves whether or not this is the right instance for them.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

when those pronouns have absolutely nothing to do with gender and are more about making a mockery of trans people and playing out a power fantasy over other people.

If and when you can demonstrate evidence that that is what was happening, I will act on it, but until then, as I stated, I'm not willing to gatekeep people's identities on my personal assessment of their validity. That's not going to change.

I can and will moderate on behaviour however, but in the case of the person I believe you are referring to, after a moderation chat I've seen no evidence of continuing behaviour at odds with our instance guidelines.

i can't see this situation as any different when the pronouns themselves genuinely make some people feel unsafe.

If someone's pronouns make you feel unsafe, that's more of an issue you need to work on than anything else IMO. I know I've struggled with "it" as a pronoun, because it's historically a slur that has been targeted against our community. Seeing people use it made me deeply uncomfortable, and when I first heard it, I assumed, as you're assuming, that the people using it were doing it in bad faith. I've since come to understand that my assumptions were incorrect, and that my discomfort is my issue to work through, not something I get to force on to others.

And until such time as we find a way of reading people's minds to determine their intentions, all we can do is respect what they tell us about who they are, and respond to their behaviour.

If you disagree with that approach, then you're likely to find your experience here frustrating.

i would also add that you cannot have an instance without politics

Of course not. As I said in the post that you're replying to, political communities are welcome here. This is especially true, because of the impact that politics has on our lives as queer folk.