The LGBT community has become home to an insidious new form of homophobia.
It has been enabled by the redefinition of homosexuality from same sex attraction to attraction based on self-identified gender.
This has resulted in gays and lesbians being pressured to include the opposite sex in their dating pools[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] so they are not seen to be 'bigoted' or 'exclusionary'.
The new homophobia is enabled by institutions, LGBT news outlets and charities that formerly fought for gay rights, and is evident in hateful online rhetoric[6] from self-proclaimed 'progressives'.
This has resulted in gays and lesbians being banned from dating apps[3][7][8] for saying they're same sex attracted, single sex lesbian events being banned[9][10][11][12][13] in otherwise progressive states, and in extreme cases, sexual assault[1][6][14].
Those who stand up against it face censorship[15], harassment[1][16][17], intimidation[4][14], threats to livelihood[14] and violence[17] from the community and organisations which are supposed to represent them.
See examples
So, how did this happen?
The difference between sex and gender
All this starts with sex and gender, terms that are sometimes considered to mean the same thing. Biological sex is made up of two categories - male and female - which are central to the reproduction of all mammals. In humans, males typically have XY chromosomes, a penis and prostate, etc. and have evolved to produce sperm. Females typically have XX chromosomes, a vagina and uterus etc. and have evolved to produce eggs.
In the 20th century, intellectuals introduced the idea that there is a difference between sex and gender. They say that while sex is biological, gender is a social construct - a set of ideas that can be changed. Gender could refer to gender roles and stereotypes - ideas about what men and women are or should be - for example, the ideas that men are assertive and women submissive. Gender could also refer to gendered presentation (e.g. men wear pants and women wear dresses and make up).
Trans rights activists assert everyone has a gender identity - one's own internal sense of whether they are a man, woman or something else, and that one's gender identity is what determines whether you're a man or a woman, and though they claim biological sex and gender identity are different, these activists have been trying[18][19][20] (and succeeding[13][21]) to replace sex with gender identity in language and law[22][23].
What is trans?
A small number of people have a mental condition called gender dysphoria, where they are distressed by their body's sex characteristics. They are treated with hormones and surgery to make them resemble the opposite sex. These people are traditionally known as transsexuals. For example, a trans woman is someone whose sex is male but lives/identifies as a woman. Trans rights activists prefer the term 'transgender', which refers to anyone who identifies as something other than their sex, regardless of whether they have gender dysphoria or have had hormones/surgery to resemble the opposite sex. According to trans rights activists, trans women (who are biologically male) are women and trans men (biologically female) are men. Anyone who questions this is labelled a fascist, bigot, transphobe, TERF or even a Nazi.
How does this impact gay rights?
Erasure of same sex attraction
Trans rights activists are seeking to replace sex with self-proclaimed 'gender identity', and have already got these changes into law in some countries. Allowing someone to live their lives in a way that is authentic to them is a good thing, but asking people to ignore sex entirely presents many problems. For starters, homosexuality is based on same sex attraction. Many institutions, including governments, LGBT charities and universities, have redefined homosexuality as "same gender" attraction, which is inaccurate - by this definition, penis in vagina sex is gay sex if both people identify as men. It also erases the lived experience of lesbians, gays and bisexuals, who are same SEX attracted.
Pressure to sleep with the opposite sex
If homosexuality is same gender attraction, a gay man would want a relationship with a biological female (with a vagina) who identifies as a man, right? If trans women are women, why would a lesbian (woman attracted to women) exclude trans women (many of whom keep their penises) from her dating pool?
This redefinition of homosexuality allows gays' and lesbians' exclusive same sex attraction to be framed as bigotry. It might sound insane, but many LGBT outlets and trans rights activists have framed it this way, sometimes even comparing gays' and lesbians' sexuality to racist dating preferences. There are also thousands of hateful comments online from people who claim to be progressive, and if you take away the progressive language, many resemble old fashioned homophobia.
If there's anything we should've learnt from the gay rights movement, it's that you can't choose who you're attracted to, and - with the obvious exceptions like rape and pedophilia - you shouldn't be shamed for it, expected to ignore it, or expected to hide it.
Examples
Important note: I do not believe the hateful content depicted on this site represents the majority of trans people. However, I believe it is a problem that needs to be addressed. Many trans rights activists and their supporters are not trans themselves. Talking about male violence doesn't mean most men are bad. Similarly, talking about discrimination done in the name of trans people does not mean most trans people are bad. Some trans people have bravely spoken out in support of women and LGB people, and have been ostracised from the LGBT community as a result.
If the content of this site makes you angry, use that anger constructively - donate to crowdfunders, write to politicians and have respectful conversations if/where it's safe to do so. Don't waste your time on Internet trolls or people who have proven themselves unable to think rationally about this issue. Remember we are all human and things are rarely black and white.
If you are struggling with your mental health, there is help available.
Below are examples of homophobia from Twitter, news sites, universities, LGBT charities, Reddit and dating apps.
Tweets
Below is a small sample of particularly bad or obvious homophobic rhetoric collected from trans rights activists and their supporters on Twitter/X. See all
"Vaginal sex for gay men"
"Class eliminates concerns or hesitations about sex & play w/ vaginas."
Tags: conversion therapy
LGBT news and other prominent sites
Several mainstream and/or LGBT news sites have published articles trying to make people (especially gay men and lesbians) feel bad about voicing their sexual boundaries, or even simply having them.
Universities and LGBT charities
Many universities and LGBT charities have LGBTQ+ glossaries which redefine homosexuality as "same gender" attraction, erasing the lived experience of lesbians and gay men who are not attracted to members of the opposite sex, no matter how they identify.
A small sample of the misogyny and homophobia of Reddit - a platform where communities can be based around rape fantasies, but communities focused on biological women and lesbians are banned within a month.
Dating apps
Popular LGBT+ apps such as Grindr, Her, Romeo are making it hard for gay men and lesbians to exclude the opposite sex from their dating pool. Attempts to do so are considered "discrimination". There have been reports of lesbians being banned from dating apps[3][7][8] and suffering abuse[6] for saying they're only interested in same-sex dates.
"Gay, bi and trans" dating app Romeo believes gay men shouldn't say they're not into the opposite sex.
Tags: special, dating app, keep it to yourself
"It never happens"
Despite the mountains of evidence, trans rights activists/allies will still deny and downplay the homophobia in their movement. They sometimes are even homophobic while doing it, and seem to spend more time attacking lesbians who say "lesbians don't like dick" than addressing it.
If you follow the links, you'll see Hayden has written an entire thread about how horrible gay men who say "vaginas are gross" are. This kind of guilting and emotional manipulation is common in trans rights activist circles.
PantiBliss continued: "One random comment from an anonymous fifteen year old on a ten year old Reddit thread won't cut it." Several people responded to PantiBliss' tweet within 3 days, showing at least 28 examples of trans rights activist homophobia, including violent rhetoric directed at lesbians (e.g. "burn TERF lesbians") and abuse sent to gay rights veteran Fred Sargeant, calling him a "raving nonce", a "lying piece of shit" and a "kiddy fiddling little tit". This is not the only example of "progressives" calling gay men pedophiles.
According to trans rights activists/allies, saying lesbians don't like dick is "transphobic". Single-sex lesbian events are "transphobic". Gay men saying they don't like vaginas is "transphobic". Some of them even think it's transphobic simply to be exclusively same sex attracted. And "transphobia" is not tolerated.
LGB people who, angry with trans rights activists, attempt to "drop the T" and organise exclusively around the interests of same sex attracted people are met with shaming, violent threats and false claims that they owe their rights to trans people.
LGB people get angry and want to be seperated from the TQ+. They are usually met with abuse along the lines of "You are nothing with out us!" "They[the right wing]'ll come for you next!" "Why are you throwing us under the bus!"
Gay and lesbian voices
Lesbian speed-dating is not for men - Spiked
Lesbian activist Kate Barker tells the story of Jenny Watson, who set up a successful lesbian speed-dating event that was viciously targeted by trans rights activists after she clarified it was women-only.
Homophobia in drag by Ben Appel - Spiked
"they called me ‘cis’ in the same cadence that the seventh graders had called me ‘fag’"
"I met straight women with Grindr accounts, and listened to them complain about the ‘transphobic’ gay men who didn’t want to have sex with women."
Gay man Ben Appel tells his story of growing up in a Christian fundamentalist community, his experience of homophobia, coming to terms with his sexual orientation, and how homophobia has infiltrated gay rights activism.
Co-opting the L: Homophobia & The Thought Police - The Velvet Chronicle
A comprehensive article about the deep-rooted homophobia in the modern "LGBTQ" movement, written by lesbian woman of colour Julia Diana Robertson. Well worth a read.
Robertson is described by trans rights activist website Transgender Map as an "anti-transgender activist". The site describes The Velvet Chronicle as an "anti-trans blog" affiliated with an "anti-trans group".
'I spoke on the phone with...one of the few lesbian publications still remaining, I asked how many lesbians she had on staff. She said “one.”...A couple of weeks later, one of their writers headlined an article with—”Lesbians…We should be using condoms. Yes, CONDOMS.”...in the body of the article, she explained that lesbians should be using condoms for PIV sex (penis in vagina sex). The “We” in the headline, implies the writer is a lesbian… But just weeks before, she’d written publicly, online, “I’m not a damn lesbian.”'
'When you first discover that mainstream ‘LGBTQ’ feminist media platforms are teaching the next generation that homosexuality is no more than a whimsical “preference” that can be “unlearned,” it kinda feels like you’ve stepped into an Orwellian novel.'
'Lesbian bloggers, with enormous youth followings, are often bullied into pandering and apologizing for posts on biological same-sex attraction—which is not something lesbians can somehow fix. Several lesbian bloggers began speaking out on being thought-policed.'
'The consequences of speaking up can mean a decline in emotional and/or physical health, unemployment (financial loss/poverty), intimidation, doxing, threats of violence, actual violence (to name a few).'
"When ‘lesbian’ becomes an ‘identity’ rather than a definable term with a universally understood tangible definition, absolutely anyone can ‘identify’ into ‘lesbian.’ It’s how we end up with ONE lesbian on staff at a “lesbian”publication. It’s how we end up with ONE remaining mainstream lesbian publication still afloat."
Anonymous Letter From a Terrified Lesbian - The Velvet Chronicle
“I’ve never felt as shouted down, ignored, and targeted as a lesbian *within* our supposed GLBT community as I have over the past couple of years.” —Sad Lez
'Lesbians have been excluded (in the name of inclusion) from the few lesbian publications we had remaining, and non-lesbians—with their “Lesbian sex” advice headlines screaming, “Newsflash: We should be using condoms” for “PIV sex”—see no moral dilemma in doling out advice to baby dykes under the guise that they’re lesbians. It’s leading to severe trauma (emails I can’t share).'
How I became "Gender Critical" by Duncan Henry - Substack
A gay man tells his story of coming out to his parents in the 90s, being subjected to conversion therapy, becoming an LGBT rights activist and his subsequent realisation that modern LGBT activism was reviving old forms of discrimination, drawing parallels between LGBT charity Stonewall's redefinition of homosexuality and instructions from the Christian doctor who tried to turn him straight.
"It is hard to explain the sense of betrayal I feel to anyone who isn’t gay. The rainbow flag stood for so much in my life. A signal of safety, acceptance, support. Now it didn’t stand for anything, except lies and deceit."
'Trans men who have only partially transitioned or not transitioned medically will never be sexually attractive to me. This isn’t my fault, I don’t have to examine why and to do so is questioning my innate sexuality, something I fought hard to stop. Now it’s coming from my own “side”.'
'This is particularly harmful to young gay men and lesbians discovering their sexuality. To be told their innate sexuality is a “preference” they should think about is deeply worrying. I’ve been there, it isn’t pleasant being made to feel you are somehow “wrong in the head” for your feelings.'
Citations
1. The lesbians who feel pressured to have sex and relationships with trans women - BBC, accessed 11 Jan 2024
2. Girl Dick, the Cotton Ceiling and the Cultural War on Lesbians, Girls and Women - AfterEllen, accessed 11 Jan 2024
3. If a lesbian only desires same-sex dates that’s not bigotry, it’s her right - The Guardian, accessed 11 Jan 2024
4. Cotton ceiling and autogynephilia - TERF is a slur, accessed 11 Jan 2024
5. Child Sexual Abuse Charity Founder Propels Lesbian to Unlearn her 'Transphobic Penis Repulsion' - 4W, accessed 26 Jan 2024
6. Right to freedom of expression, association and assembly - Report to the United Nations SOGI expert - LGB Alliance Australia, accessed 13 Feb 2024
7. Lesbian barrister, 43, claims she sees 'sinister' men claiming to be trans women 'bully naïve and vulnerable' lesbian girls as young as 14 into sex - Daily Mail, accessed 28 Mar 2024
8. From HER To HIM: The Downfall Of A “Lesbian” Dating App - Reduxx, accessed 28 Mar 2024
9. Lesbian Action Group loses bid to exclude trans women from events - The Sydney Morning Herald, accessed 11 Jan 2024
10. Female-Only Events Banned by Tasmanian Tribunal - AfterEllen, accessed 22 Mar 2023
11. Woman banned from hosting lesbian-only event seeks High Court challenge - Sky News, accessed 11 Jan 2024
12. Bid to exclude ‘people with penises’ from lesbian events ‘unlawful’ - The Australian, accessed 20 Mar 2023
13. Tasmania: where women’s rights never arrived - The Spectator Australia, accessed 21 Jan 2023
14. Lesbian speed-dating is not for men - Spiked, accessed 18 Aug 2023
15. Norwegian actress Tonje Gjevjon faces up to 3 years in prison for saying men cannot be lesbians - New York Post, accessed 11 Jan 2024
16. Why are lesbians no longer welcome at Pride? - The Spectator, accessed 11 Jan 2024
17. UK: Lesbians Removed from Pride Event for Criticizing Gender Ideology - Reduxx, accessed 11 Jan 2024
18. Nicola Sturgeon Faces Scotland's Feminist Schism - The Atlantic, accessed 6 May 2021
19. Gender recognition certificate fee cut from £140 to £5 - The Guardian, accessed 2 Mar 2024
20. Gender identity: Legal recognition should be transferred to individuals, Human Rights Commission says - ABC News, accessed 2 Mar 2024
21. Gender-critical Tasmanian women are given permission to speak - The Spectator Australia, accessed 16 Dec 2023
22. Continental Europe enters the gender wars - The Economist, accessed 14 Jun 2021
23. Explained: Countries that allow gender self-identification, and the law in India - The Indian Express, accessed 28 Oct 2022
Footnotes
Evidence of homophobia PantiBliss ignored
https://twitter.com/IconoclasticUK/status/1323264329601470467
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https://twitter.com/Opiumbrella/status/1323184741290422275
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https://twitter.com/Opiumbrella/status/1323186908235661318
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https://twitter.com/Opiumbrella/status/1323185039228612608
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https://twitter.com/_lliesl_/status/1323026641602383872
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https://twitter.com/Dora_Callisto/status/1322943898726137857
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https://twitter.com/JammersMinde/status/1322925798609821701
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