[Storyteller.]

Originally Posted by Silvan

I do believe this is too far. If we decide not to celebrate Harry Potter Day, then we are excluding Harry Potter fans, aren't we? Now if we ban something else, we exclude others, and so on, so on. It becomes an unending cycle.

There's a quote that I've seen passed around on social media a lot in recent times: "You can say ‘all are welcome’ but if wolves and sheep are both welcome you’re only going to get wolves..." There's more to it than that, including the fact that refusing to choose in itself is a choice, and I think it's very relevant here. Celebrating Harry Potter is automatically excluding trans folks, and it's not a fair exchange - making an entire community of people feel unsafe over something they have no control over in order to be welcoming to people who choose to engage with and support content created by an outspoken exclusionist. There is no line between the author and the fandom when that author uses the fandom to justify trying to push her own transphobic views onto everyone else. She's made it clear that she believes people supporting her content means that they support her views, and the continued popularity of the franchise gives her voice far more weight in the discussion than it should have. So, yeah... prioritising being welcoming to everyone over being safe for vulnerable people isn't the way to make trans people feel at home here.

I do think there have been strides towards inclusivity - including the pronoun option in profiles, for example. That said, it hasn't been consistent. I've been misgendered by higher-ups, I've seen transphobic comments allowed to stand uncontested, I've seen people shut down for trying to explain why certain things are transphobic. I think that kind of thing needs to be addressed. I also think, assuming it is addressed, that it would be a good idea to add something into the site rules to specifically denounce transphobia. I know that gender identity is mentioned in the Equal Opportunities Statement, but personally I feel that alone is too vague to be very reassuring. If transphobia really isn't allowed, that fact should be built into the rules of the site and should be very clearly stated. I can't speak for all trans people, but that might go some way towards promoting inclusivity.