[failedartkid]

Dear Moderators and Guardians,

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of the HomeTown community for a while now, and I love getting to talk with other players and bond with them over our real-life interests and our in-game activities. It truly is a fun place to escape the world around me.

However, there is an issue I would like to bring up that I feel is not being properly addressed.

A few minutes ago, I was muted after a discussion with another player in which they decided to re-enforce the idea that 'you are what you're born as' in the sense of people being only their assigned sex at birth. As a transgender man currently undergoing HRT (hormone-replacement therapy), I found this dysphoria inducing, and distressing. I have no good way to explain dysphoria to a person who has not experienced it, but I will say that dysphoria is a part of my past need for mental health-related hospital visits (none of which have been required since I began transitioning).

To me, it is ideas like these that cause society to laugh at and mock trans people, and over time that laughter turns into hate. A hate that has taken three transgender women in my city in the last six months.

I beg you, please look at comments like these on the same level as ideas like 'black people are th*gs' and 'jewish people are gr**dy', because they are the comments that when put together with other comments like it, lead to horrendous actions, and the deaths of some of the most vulnerable people in society.

I am proud of who I am, but to have people spread this misinformation and hate makes me scared to be myself.

Please, address this.

Thank you,
Mark
Failedartkid

[UberDeathBunny]

Both players were muted for not dropping the subject when asked. Not everyone is going to agree with each other. When this happens and the people involved will not discuss the topic they are disagreeing on in a private area that does not upset the general chat of the server the staff of the server will mute any player that does not drop the topic when asked. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and they are welcome to express them in /msg and /p chat as long as both parties wish to discuss it. HomeTown is a diverse population with many views and beliefs so in the future when a staff member asks you to drop a topic due to it disturbing chat please do so or take it to /msg or /p.

[failedartkid]

While I understand that point, it does not change the fact that the other person was saying things that are damaging to the view of the transgender community. While I agree people are allowed to have opinions of their own, opinions do not extend to disagreeing with scientific fact along with spreading damaging views of a minority group. The other player was also not muted until they left the server. I know this server takes a stance on not allowing offensive jokes in general, and so I find the fact that there is a double standard when it comes to transgender topics disheartening. I should also mention that my last message before I was muted wasn't even arguing with the other player, it was an expression of frustration that used no rude language towards anyone else.