I get it. I get that having your corner of the internet break away from the rest is a MASSIVE pain in the ass. It feels even worse when, as far as you can tell, the issue has been handled. "Laurelai/Slaanesh isn't in charge anymore. She can't do more harm, and she deserves a chance to be part of this community."

What I think you all need to understand is that this isn't just someone who said shitty things or did a racism and has since apologized. From what we can gather, she's been accused of using a platform much like this one as a means of collecting SA victims. Coming around to a newly-popular social media platform — one used largely by queer people, mind you — and forming a community of her own under a pseudonym is, to put it bluntly, a REALLY suspicious thing for someone with that kind of history to do.

I can't say for certain if Kolektiva's original "crusade" against 8pt was based in transphobia. But I do know that once the true identity of #Slaanesh was uncovered, it became a matter of keeping OTHER QUEER PEOPLE safe from one queer person who happened to be problematic. If you need any further indication that this isn't fueled by transphobia, just look at tech.lgbt's response! Their MAJORITY-TRANS modmin team decided to defederate because they wanted to keep their people from interacting with a known predator.

The LGBTQIA+ community is one that values consent and safety. After all, we've been repeatedly violated in BOTH of those regards on a systemic scale. We're assaulted, verbally and physically abused, and generally treated as second-class citizens for loving and living authentically. It's extremely important for us to work AGAINST this sort of abuse, and it's even MORE vital to do so when it happens within our own community.

As a minority group with these values, not to mention one that has been consistently held down with accusations of being sexual predators, I would expect that we would be more harshly and vehemently opposed to giving such people a second chance. The fact that we have people trying to welcome an ACTUAL offender back into the community is the crux of the issue.

There is no "restorative justice" to be had here. Someone who was poised to abuse a position of power was ousted from that position, and from the community in which she held that position. For said community to then say "actually, come on back in, but you can't be an admin anymore" is absolutely absurd. It totally disregards the safety of those who don't know who LB is, who don't know her history.

I know I'm going to be accused of spreading #FUD about a trans woman, which is fucking ridiculous because I AM one. But it's important to acknowledge that there are bad actors in ANY group of people. The vast majority of queer people aren't abusers, but there can be and are exceptions, and LB is likely one of them. We can't come to her defense just because she's one of us.

So to summarize:

⋄ Kolektiva's unmasking of Slaanesh, even if not INITIALLY well-intentioned, was not ultimately based in transphobia. I don't doubt there were SOME people involved with that goal in mind, but that doesn't make the situation they uncovered any less serious.

⋄ tech.lgbt's decision to defederate after #eightpoint modmins refused to oust LB entirely is ALSO not based in transphobia, obviously. Said decision was made by a panel of mostly trans people.

⋄ I am questioning the judgment and intentions of anyone who things LB should be forgiven and kept around. Trans or not, she is a known danger to those with whom she tries to interact, and I do not believe that knowingly allowing her to do so is the right decision here.

⋄ I recognize that banning her allows her to just make another pseudonym and rejoin the Fediverse elsewhere…but she would be able to do this ANYWAY. At least by publicly disallowing her return, 8pt would be taking a stance. Instead they insist that she deserves a second chance if she wants one, and that's not okay with me.

⋄ I do not blame anyone who was already on eightpoint.app and who wishes to stay there for their own subset of the community, but I would STRONGLY discourage Mastodon/Fediverse newcomers from joining that instance.