Let’s talk about Pokepride. This isn’t a callout or directed at anyone in particular, but I will be taking some examples to make the point. If you think this is about you, don’t take it personally – I think this is a good opportunity for all of us to think and reflect on what this space should be. Some initial thoughts:
- I am posting this here because it has been made abundantly clear that discussion about practices, or anything really, is not allowed in the server. When raised in the chat, or with the moderation team, any criticism is either ignored or summarily shut down with absolutely no self-reflection. We’ve also been directed to take discussion that can’t happen there, here. Voila.
- Some of you will probably see this as the continued ramblings and insurrection of one or two disgruntled homosexuals, and be tempted to dismiss this on that basis. I would note, however, that the server has an active userbase of about 15, and about half of them share these concerns but have thought it fruitless to bring it up to the moderation team, as they (rightly) believe they will be either ignored or kicked.
- It is important to note that the server is at least quasi-official. It is advertised in the only LGBT discussion thread on the forum, is relatively entrenched, and advertises itself as such in other discords and on PS. This makes it open to critique, and thoughts like “why not go elsewhere” are misguided at best. At the very least, your representations should somewhat align with what you are providing.
- It’s also clear some of you don’t like me. That’s fine, engage with this in good faith regardless. I think very little of this should have anything to do with me, or any other individual in particular, and I’d hate for this opportunity to improve the server to simply collapse into pointless mudslinging.
- There is a complete lack of discussion. Queer spaces have historically been, and remain, one of the only places LGBT people from different backgrounds can come together to learn from one another, facilitate a better understanding of our shared identities, histories, and politics, as well as to organise and mobilise with one another. I can appreciate a desire to also cater to people who do not want that, and would rather socialise, vent, or just want solidarity. But these two cannot and should not be separated. For instance, a lack of understanding of the relative power dynamics between users in a server that also caters to allies has caused many users of the server to feel alienated and discriminated against by those users. When those issues are brought up with server staff, they have been dismissed. The saturation of the Discord by allies displaces the experiences of LGBT people, especially those that the server is apparently setting itself out to protect. Trite responses and often directly harmful advice are the most common response to venting. If you want another 1v1 Discord, make one and have fun there. But don’t pretend you’re doing something different. Another example is its attempt to be apolitical, but to apply this in oddly asymmetric ways. Supporting the US military, an actively homophobic and transphobic institution responsible for the deaths of LGBT people and PoC around the world and an instrument of neo-imperialism? Fine. Supporting Israel, responsible for much the same? Fine. Promoting and protecting users who have spread transphobic nonsense about bone density defining gender? Also, fine. But if those things are challenged or even vaguely radical views are put forward, they are shut down immediately. This seems perverse.
- This lack of discussion also hurts LGBT people in general. A significant part of LGBT spaces is helping people uncover and understand their identities, particularly when they lack knowledge on the subject. How can you fully understand your identity as a trans woman without an understanding of gender? You can’t. How can you know what it is to be a gay man without understanding its constituent identity? It is not even a coherent concept. It is discussions like these, however, that are routinely shut down for fear of upsetting people, or the balance of the server. The mechanism for this is typically claiming that whatever channel the discussion was being had in was not the appropriate forum for that discussion, in spite of the fact that the discussion had grown out of that channel organically. A few of us suggested that a discussion channel might be a reasonable compromise. In fact, I cannot see a single reason not to implement such a policy. It was denied.
- There is a complete lack of accountability. Rules are applied asymmetrically. Another user posted a piece of rather explicit gay literature. He was banned. This, by itself, is probably defensible. But then myself and another user enquired after this, making more or less the same points. I was banned, they were not. Today, when an admin posted even more explicit references to pornography, and was rightly questioned about it, the questioner was simply told to stop asking. The proposed approach is to instead message an admin. But when users who do so are dismissed in PM, then mocked and derided in separate mod chats, how can they really approach this? Or alternatively, when enquiring about a decision, they are directly lied to by the administrator they asked. If you want to ban all NSFW content, then do so, but apply it appropriately and to yourselves. It is deeply unclear to me why an apparently progressive administration team would not have any kind of public accountability mechanisms, and seek to actively shut down the few that exist. Pokepride is an interesting balance – it seeks to maintain a LGBT space where minors and adults discuss things, where both are usually coming from very vulnerable backgrounds, often with histories of abuse. I think it is very dangerous to allow this to continue, for rather obvious reasons.
