Comment by 15155 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by 15155 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> Transphobes are constantly imposing their beliefs on trans people, trans people want equal rights

What happens if you don't use the correct pronouns someone has declared for themselves?

Is this not "imposing beliefs" on other people?

This goes far beyond "tolerance": you must be an active, enthusiastic participant or face punishment.

> It's very easy to hide your beliefs if you want to participate

That's the point: only one set of ideas are allowed, everyone else must hide, regardless of forum.

> anyone is free to join and start getting support

Try espousing ideals contrary to theirs in completely unrelated venues and see how much support you get sans anonymity.

> places that don't make people feel unsafe.

"Feeling unsafe" is an outstanding weapon to crush behavior one doesn't like. Doesn't even require logic: it's literally a feeling.

> What happens if you don't use the correct pronouns someone has declared for themselves? Is this not "imposing beliefs" on other people?

That's a false equivalence. All that's asked of you is to not misgender or deadname them, whereas transphobes are actively making it impossible for trans people to freely live as themselves.

It's also about not being a dickhead. If you met an autistic kid, and were told that he becomes incredibly distressed if you don't refer to him as 'Mr.', would you at least make an effort to call him that? It doesn't matter how ridiculous you think calling a kid 'Mr.' is, he isn't imposing his beliefs on you by asking that of you. If someone decides that their community will be a safe place for the kid to be, then of course they're justified in removing you if you refuse to call him 'Mr'.

Regardless of whether you believe trans people are mentally ill or just a normal part of humanity, not misgendering them is a simple courtesy to avoid causing a fellow human distress.

> "Feeling unsafe" is an outstanding weapon to crush behavior one doesn't like. Doesn't even require logic: it's literally a feeling.

How is this relevant to a programming language community? Who, in your scenario, is doing the crushing?

> not misgender or deadname them

In other words: be an active, enthusiastic participant in someone's beliefs regardless of your own.

> How is this relevant to a programming language community?

Easy example: "I feel unsafe because DHH doesn't like that his country has been overrun by immigrants, he must be removed!"

Reply on news.ycombinator.com