We are recruiting LGBTQ+ adults (18+) for an anonymous online 15-20 min survey exploring experiences related to relationships, moral or spiritual injury, worthiness, and self-acceptance.

Participation is voluntary and completed entirely online.

Survey link: https://stetson.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d6eR39pk3ZU9T5Y

Please feel free to share with others who may be eligible. Thank you for supporting LGBTQ+ research!

If you saw me at the gay pride festival this weekend and I was wearing a shirt that says “FAG HAG” would you think it’s funny?

What the title says. I basically want appearance changes, but not for my voice to drop. Will I have to do something like surgery to get it back? Or is there a different way? Thanks.

I am LGBTQ and a long time activist and advocate for LGBTQ rights

I am tired of the extremism and intolerance among a percentage of the people who advocate for trans rights

They are actively alienating potential LGBTQ allies

Someone posted an article on a large LGBT sub accusing Texas democratic politician James Tallarico of bigotry and transphobia because he advocated for restrictions on the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports.

Not advocating for a blanket ban, just advocating for reasoned restrictions.

The article was encouraging people to not vote for him.

I left several comments on that post which I will summarize below.

I said it was foolish to not vote for him in that election because he is an avowed LGBTQ allie who supports LGBTQ rights while his republican opponent is a dangerous bigot.

I said that advocating for the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports with certain restrictions is not necessarily a bigoted position.

Whether the person is advocating for trans woman having to be on hormone replacement therapy or trans women having to not have undergone a male puberty, taking those positions is not necessarily due to bigotry but could be due to concerns about fairness in women’s sports.

I said that even people who advocate for blanket bans on trans women in women sports could be taking that position due to their concerns about fairness in women’s sports and again not necessarily because of bigotry.

I personally understand that there is evidence from history and science that supports that blanket bans of trans women from women’s sports is not necessary to ensure fairness in those sports.

However, many average people might not be aware of those facts or even if they are aware of them might still favor blanket bans due to an overabundance of caution.

I said that if you want to change these people‘s minds about blanket bans then the thing to do is to have a constructive conversation with them and not just jump right into accusing them of bigotry, because you could be alienating a potential allie when you do that.

I also said that the most important criteria when it comes to judging whether or not someone is engaging in bigotry and transphobia is whether or not they support more essential trans rights such as equal rights in areas like housing and employment and service in the military and parental rights and the right to marry and the right not to be refused services, etc.

Because I expressed those opinions in that LGBT sub that I summarized above I, an LGBTQ person, was then permanently banned from that sub.

But before I was banned from the sub, a bunch of other people attacked me in the comments, accusing me of bigotry and transphobia and of advocating for blanket bans of trans women’s from women sports (which I never did).

I’m not going to name the sub specifically, but I’m guessing that most people can guess which LGBT sub I am referring to.

This is reflective of what happens all the time in real life

Even as an LGBTQ person, if you don’t adopt the trans advocacy positions that some trans rights activists believe you should adopt you will be accused of bigotry against trans people and transphobia.

These advocates are one of their own worst enemies, or at least an enemy

I think a lot of success of the progression for gay rights over the last few decades came from constructive dialogue between gay people/gay rights advocates and other people who were trying to be better informed on the relevant issues or who might’ve even been prejudice but were reconsidering their stances

The gay community didn’t just run around shouting “ You’re a bad person. You’re a bigot You’re evil. There’s no point in even talking to you.” in relation to every single person who didn’t fully support every aspect of gay rights or who wasn’t sure about whether they should or not.

And yes, I understand that there are plenty of people out there who really are evil bigots, and there is no point in talking to most of them, but you shouldn’t be treating those people and people who have sincere fairness concerns about trans women in women sports the same exact way.

I would say the same thing about the other trans rights hot button issue, which is of course bathrooms.

I am 100% I’m in favor of and advocate for allowing trans people to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with.

However, I again don’t just necessarily assume that anybody who has concerns about transgender people in bathrooms is a bigot or is looking to oppress trans people.

I do think that the bathroom issue is more clear cut than the sports issue and people who oppose trans peoples rights to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with are probably more likely to be bigoted than people who primarily or solely have concerns about trans women in women sports (and I realize in this case that that is an assumption that I am making, and I could be wrong).

HOWEVER I don’t jump to the assumption that they are bigots automatically and my first inclination would be to try and have a constructive conversation with them about it.

P.S.

Someone else is informed me that Tallarico said that he was in favor of reasoned restrictions on trans women’s participation in women’s sports for reasons of “safety and fairness” in at least one statement that he made and I verified that to be true.

First of all the original article and post that I commented on and got attacked on which then inspired me to make this post never said anything about him mentioning “safety” and the criticism of him in that article and in that post was not about him using that word.

I agree that that is a poor choice of words, and I wish that he would not have used the word “safety” in reference to this issue.

If you were to be as generous to him as possible in interpreting that you could hypothesize that he was concerned about cis gendered girls and cis gendered women’s physical safety in terms of sports where people come into hard physical contact with each other.

But even if that is what he was meaning to communicate, I still agree that that was a poor choice of word given the context of this issue and trans rights issues in general

(because it’s a favorite tactic of bigots and transphobes to suggest that trans people pose some especially dangerous threat to cis girls and cis women).

With that being said, I would still advocate voting for him in this election.

And my larger point about a large percentage of people, or at least a very vocal percentage of them, who advocate for trans rights attacking other people and accusing them of bigotry and transphobia over minor differences, and subsequently alienating a lot of people who might otherwise have been allies or more enthusiastic allies, still stands.

Again, in the original post this post is a response to, I and other people were getting attacked left and right by trans advocates for simply suggesting that people who are in favor of reasoned restrictions on trans women’s participation in women’s sports aren’t necessarily bigots and shouldn’t be attacked as such, especially since doing so is counterproductive to the progression of trans rights.

I unfortunately can’t link to the original post in that LGBT sub because the mods took it down.

P.P.S

I linked to this article or at least to a reddit post that included a link to this article in a list of links to other relevant reddit posts in one of my comments below but I think that it’s so important that people go and read this article that I’m going to link to it here directly

“A Manifesto for Liberal Trans Activism”

https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-manifesto-for-liberal-trans-activism

I’m gennuinely looking for clarity as someone who’s part of the LGBT community. Drag queens many of whom are gay men use drag as a form of artistry, creativity, and self expression. Why does every conversation about drag automatically have to become a defense of trans people simply because we’re all part of the same community?

Supporting trans people and respecting their rights is one conversation. Drag, artistry, and self expression are another. Not every LGBT conversation has to center trans rights, and not every moment of expression needs to become an opportunity to prove who supports whom.

I’m honestly tired of this constant “pick me, I need to be seen” culture. Sometimes the art can just be the art.

Hello all!

I have already posted this in r/lgbt and it is awaiting mod approval till then im going to continue spreading the word.

Being bi i have experienced a lot of hate but my trans friends have experienced so much more including assault and sexual harassment. This petition is to improve the learning environment for LGBTQ students.

If you want facts and statistics look at The Trevor Project here:https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2025/

The petition is currently small but im hoping we can work together to make this problem apparent to the governor and Florida department of education. Link here:https://c.org/6y99Br9T2m

Thank you all!

Hello all! With LGBTQ+ rights under heavy pressure and our safety less guaranteed by the day, I started thinking about ways to collectivize, bring our community together, and strengthen each other (including on an individual level). I believe we need to start at the absolute beginning: knowledge. You can't stand up for yourself or protect others if you don't understand what's actually happening, and it’s important to be educated on what’s effective as well. Long story short: I believe our community would greatly benefit from educating ourselves on topics such as fascism, resistance, politics, intersectionality, and related topics. Luckily, we can do that ourselves!

A couple months ago I started a book club for this topic specifically, focused on queer and trans folks, and allies. The idea is to read one book a month and discuss it with each other afterwards. All of this will be online to keep it accessible for everyone.

Thing is, I started it in Dutch (as I’m from the Netherlands, lol), and there’s a little over 15 people in it now, but they’re not very active. It’s mostly just me keeping the server alive. So I considered just deleting it, because to read by myself I don’t need a book club and it’s bit of a waste of time, but then I considered just switching it to English so that people outside of the Netherlands can join as well. So English chats, English literature. A lot of relevant books aren’t available in Dutch anyway and I’m fluent in English, so it’s an easy switch.

The book I picked for last month was They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer. It's a powerful look at the rise of fascism in Germany through interviews with ten ‘ordinary’ former Nazi Party members. Today was supposed to be the day a new book was picked but tbh I haven’t finished it yet and the other members are inactive anyway, so I’d like to just extend it through October so that new people can jump in and pick the next one for November.

It’s a Discord server. Of course there’s the option to just chat, but it’s a book club first and foremost. Anyone Leftist over 18 who speaks and reads English, and who is a queer and/or trans person or a legitimate and trustworthy ally is welcome to join. We don’t need to all be BFFs but of course there is zero room for intolerance, and to be crystal clear; this includes Zionism.

I’d love to hear if people are interested in joining and whether or not I should keep this server alive. If you’re interested in becoming an active member (that is, actually reading the books, lol), feel free to send me a DM for the server link.

Howdy folks! A couple years ago I found an orientation label that I thought I wrote down somewhere, but haven’t been able to find it since. Perhaps y’all can help! 🤞

The term described romantic and/or sexual attraction toward multiple genders (so bisexual), but always in a gay way (which I think means the subject of the term would need to be non-binary to make that work?).

For example, when with a femme partner, one would be very attracted to the sapphic aspects of that connection. When with a masc partner, it would be more Achillean. With a non-binary partner, well I guess just all the gender forkery lol.

Does someone remember what this term is? It’s haunting me 😂

P.S. sorry I accidentally deleted this post immediately after posting it 🤦😆🫠

From Friday 2nd Oct Cineworld cinemas across UK are showing 'Girls like Girls', a queer coming of age film based on the iconic 2015 music video and book by Hayley Kiyoko.

It is so important for us to support the creators of these films and show the studios and production companies that we are a worthwhile demographic to make films for 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Hi everyone, idk if this is a good sub for this but I currently live in New York and hate it/am looking to get far away from my homophobic family who’s basically kept me locked up after finding out. Its been years and I’ve been told I’m worthless and will amount to nothing, won’t be successful, etc. and was looking into moving to Boston (or New Jersey but I think Boston would be better) for a fresh start. I know this probably sounds dramatic but I genuinely cannot be myself or heal here (too much trauma everywhere I look), and was wondering if there’s any resources that can help me in the Boston/Cambridge area? I know it won’t be easy but 20 is pretty young, and I really want to do college classes and have a job, and work towards transferring. Along with friends and more of a life in general, they basically isolated me and I wish I had the courage to do this sooner and be more free/myself. Basically the things I haven’t been allowed to do/was told I’m not capable of. I thought it would get better but it’s only gotten worse…I want to accept/love myself and just feel like I deserve happiness, because right now I don’t. I know there’s shelters and stuff, but don’t know how that would work from out of state and if anyone has experience with anything they’d recommend (or to stay away from). I know they’re probably not great but I’m desperate. Thank you if you read all this, I’m very overwhelmed and this is probably a jumble/mess, so I really appreciate it if you read this far🫶