Is pushing people away based on guilt by association really the best way to handle transphobia?
Someone literally came to @
FediForum to discuss decentralized social media and the social web in a non-hostile manner, and was perfectly fine and respectful towards the trans, gays, and lesbians attending, but they were prohibited from speaking because one of the leaders of their organization talked with someone who is accused of being transphobic? The person banned from speaking never said anything transphobic. It was purely guilt by association.
When dealing with outsiders, we have two choices. Be hostile to them or be welcoming to them.
If we are hostile to them, we just confirm that they were right about us being a threat, and we just create more people who hate us. On the other hand, if we are welcoming to them, they start to question why people are so hostile to us, and we can gain another ally.
If #
trans people keep being this hostile and exclusionary to normies, we will wind up continuing to isolate ourselves until we have no social influence at all. And the less social influence we have, the more people are hostile to us.
It's like we are trying to dig ourselves out of a hole society has put is in... by digging deeper.
I understand being protective. One of the reasons I post under an alias is because I am afraid of being attacked simply for who I am. But being exclusionary and punishing people using guilt by association is a tactic that will just backfire.
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fediforum #
fediforum2025
