This is an admin post, intended for blahaj lemmy users. Top level posts from members of other instances will be removed.

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After recent events, it feels to me that sentiment has shifted and more people are asking for defederation of hexbear than previously.

I've been doing my best to try and mend bridges and keep us connected, as it's my hope that we can maintain trans solidarity and work with them, despite the friction, however, ultimately, I feel that this is an issue for the blahaj lemmy community to decide, not the admins alone.

So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to leave things as they are for a week. That will give time for things to calm down whilst we see if we can work together. After a week, I'll put up a vote and get a feel for where the community is at in regards to our continued federation with hexbear. That poll will run for a week. If there is a strong will to defederate (a clear majority), then that's what we will do.

  • StalinwasaGryffindor [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t believe anyone on hexbear is actually cheering for people who would remove us from existence. I’m LGBT+ myself, and a huge part of why I’m against the current capitalist system we live under is that I see it as incredibly harmful for people like me. There are numerous examples, such as anti-trans laws in the US, the extreme anti-trans rhetoric in the UK, the American funding of draconian anti-LGBT+ laws in African countries. I also truly don’t value people in western countries higher than people in the rest of the world, so when I see the death toll from our military interventions and siege warfare in the form of sanctions, it makes my blood boil. 100s of thousands of people were killed by the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan alone; statistically thousands of them were LGBT+. This means the coalition forces killed more queer people than the countries that have actual death penalties for homosexuality.

    I don’t love Russia, they’re a capitalist country with terrible laws and a regressive culture, but Ukraine isn’t really any better. They’ve elevated right wing militias which have targeted people like me and banned trans women from leaving the country.

    China is behind on LGBT+ rights, but seem to be moving in the right direction. Cuba has the most progressive LGBT+ laws in the world. Vietnam is moving in the right direction pretty rapidly as well.

    I hope this helps you understand why at least one of our users thoughts on these issues. I don’t speak for anyone but myself, but I feel certain my views are quite close to the majority of hexbears.

    • Swiggles@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      ·
      1 year ago

      At least half of it is reasonable and I would fully agree with it. Unfortunately then it went of the rails.

      I read the same argument the other day with the US/NATO wars/invasions and equated to the persecution of other countries and that's just ridiculous. If they were sent there and died because they were queer it would be a whole other story, but if they were there because they were equal to their comrades then it was the actual equality we strive for. Not that I support any wars or any military, but that rhetoric is just dumb. Also guess what this is true for any military ever. Queer people exist even if they don't have the freedom to live their lives in the open.

      Regarding Ukraine it doesn't really matter. Russia is the agressor here. There is no way Ukraine was ever a threat to Russia yet here we are. It is a developing souvereign (!) country with many problems they try to solve one step at a time. Russia is actively working against everything we fight for. Whatever you believe Ukraine is the situation got only worse due to Russia and there is no way the invasion should ever be glorified by any sane queer person at all.

      Funny you mentioned Cuba. Cuba still has major problems with corruption and all the LGBT+ laws are very, very recent additions. I want it to be a success story probably for the same reasons as you, but let's wait and see for a few more years or decades. I dearly hope they manage and so far it looks better than ever, but unfortunately that's not great yet.

      Anyway this post is also a great example for the US centric whataboutism I talked about in my initial post.

      • StalinwasaGryffindor [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m very confused by what you mean about sending people to die? I’m talking about civilian deaths due to invasions and sanctions. I don’t believe you can actually be supporting queer people while bombing them and/or starving them with sanctions.

        I also don’t fully agree that my arguments are us-centric. I focus on the US and UK because I am Anglo and so am more aware of the role they play in the world.

        • Swiggles@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          ·
          1 year ago

          Wars are all the same. The argument is just dumb. Either queer people are targeted specifically or it is irrelevant to any discussion about queer persecution.

      • jackmarxist [any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Sanctions are only meant to hurt people, not leaders. In fact, they politically weaken poorer people who end up trying to stay alive over trying to overthrow the government.

      • StalinwasaGryffindor [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not an original observation, but it was something that once I was aware of really made me question why sanctions are so normalized.

        If you’d like a better explanation from people who are much smarter than me I recommend the podcast Citations Needed. They’ve got an episode that goes into the harm sanctions cause, especially to the most vulnerable people in the target country.

        The following link has both the podcast and a transcript if you prefer reading over listening:

        https://citationsneeded.medium.com/episode-106-the-sanitization-of-sanctions-56f976af6019