I’ve only been on Lemmy a few days and I’ve already witnessed a lot of thinly veiled transphobia, anything from people dismissing the existence of trans people, to trying to claim we are predators. I’ve also seen people downvoted in the general communities for expressing trans support, or seemingly for no reason other than simply being openly trans or visibly queer. I know it’s an ongoing effort to moderate transphobia on Lemmy, and the fediverse as a whole. We have to also address mentions of thinly veiled transphobia and transphobic users. Transphobia isn’t just a differing opinion, it is a dangerous hateful sentiment which causes harm to vulnerable people and it needs to be addressed, at the instance and community level. We need to put in the effort to identify transphobic dogwhistles and language used by transphobes to eradicate this type of behavior from our communities and servers alike.

Some people will argue that the light stuff isn’t something to worry about, but that’s not true. This is a tactic they use to blend in with normies and make them think that nothing they are doing or saying is wrong. It’s what transphobic right-wing YouTubers and Facebook users do to avoid being banned for hate speech. We are better than these corporations though, Fediverse is run by communities and for the users, we should not let these things slide as easily as Corporations do, they’re in it to make money, we… We’re in it to create a community for the users. Part of that means kicking out those who don’t have all our best interests at heart.

  • @[email protected]English
    13•3 months ago

    I’m not in any way supporting or justifying their transphobic views, but having them and using them to influence open source development are 2 different things.

    My views define my choices. If I hated the flavour of coffee, I wouldn’t drink coffee. I would say no if you offered to buy me a coffee. I would avoid coffee-flavoured desserts. If I had an influence on a community space and made a decision that beverage-related discussions about other caffeinated drinks were acceptable, but not coffee, you could not argue in good faith that my personal views did not have a bearing on that.

    Having a bigoted view is never acceptable. Such people should not have an influence on communities, particularly when the group or groups they are bigoted against exist. Bigotry is hate, and hate is unacceptable. And hate is a very strong emotion for very weak and pathetic people, and it most certainly influences action, as the strength of the emotion is the only thing about them that makes them feel strong.

    Being hateful and acting on hate are exactly the same thing, because that is what hate motivates you to do.

      • @[email protected]English
        15•3 months ago

        This is a lie: “Yes, I hate people, but I don’t let it influence me.”

        This is because: Hate is how you see other people.

        If I see you as less than human, I will treat you as less than human.