nikki

It’s not even people being offended that creates the rules a lot of the time. If you don’t have strict and clear cut rules, it’s going to eat up a ton of mod time trying to keep out trolls and people asking the same things repeatedly in bad faith. I liked the split that was on Reddit between an asktransgender group and the groups meant for community.

For me though, I’ve just never wanted to be in that particular kind of place as a trans person. It takes a lot of energy to constantly answer the unintentionally offensive and invasive questions from all the people in your family, job, and just general day to day life. It’s hard to find people who consistently can and want to give time to helping slowly warm people up to the same basic facts that they could find on their own.

Part of the issue it seems like people are having in this thread is that it’s really unclear what you mean by nonpolitical help.

I’ve never experienced any communities calling gender dysphoria beautiful, but I also see that idea as distinct from acknowledging it as a real problem that affects people. I don’t think it’s in any way political to talk about the fact that gender affirming care is well supported by medical research.

The majority of my friends leaving Austin have done so because of state politics. It’s hard to feel safe when you’re queer in Texas.