Today, i couldnt upvote a post from anarchymemes@anarchist.nexus so i decided to check it out on my pc. i noticed that i was banned from the com even though i havent posted anything on the com nor the instance. i guess the reason for the ban is that i posted a meme to different comm a while ago. The meme is homophobic but i didnt know it when i was posting it. After finding out it was homophonic, i added a disclaimer to my post.
i dont think i deserved the ban, and i want to hear your thoughts.
It’s a matter of degree. I think this is technically homophobic in that it exploits the shameful stigma of homosexuality. It certainly is not celebrating homosexuality. However I think it is a degree of homophobia that does not rise to actual hatred, isn’t expressing the author’s hatred or attempting to harm gay people, it’s just expressing the latent homophobia embedded in American culture. It’s fine to want spaces without even that degree, and it doesn’t have to be a moral judgement to exclude it.
Wait what.
I’m queer… … this counts as homophobic?
Like… yeah I guess you could interperet it that way, as if a candid photo of two men in bed (yes I know its not real) is just, de facto embarassing, which makes it homophobic…
But its also just a silly pun, on Bill Clinton’s name.
I guess you could… say its technically body shaming or objectifies men as well, by setting up the implied juxtaposition of ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ to Trump’s tiny … hands.
But like… the joke does not require a homophobic interpretation to work as a joke. There are a number of other ways in which it is a joke.
Thus, its not inherently a homophobic joke.
Like, if I say that the people who did think this joke are homophobic, well they’re just butthurt… is that also homophobic?
(Lemme tell ya’, I’ve been butthurt before… but not from a joke!)
The meta joke is that this would presumably trigger extremely insecure, performative hetero male magas (and I guess hetero female magas?)… but… thats mostly just by way of implying that Trump could have done some gay stuff with Bill.
Which… in my mind, only reads as offensive… if you, the viewer, are homophobic.
So… its just trolling those people, because other people generally are considerably less likely innately disgusted by the simple idea of a gay relationship.
But also: Magas hate Bill Clinton, thanks to decades of dittohead conditioning from Rush Limbaugh, so more than it just being ‘gay’, its… well, sleeping with the enemy.
So it trolls magas in that way as well. Its not just that its ‘gay sex bad’, its the particular two participants given the uh, context of their political existences.
Otherwise, its just funny, mostly just due to innate absurdity of the idea that a former and future President would have had a gay sexual encounter of at least some kind.
(Its like, a fan fiction level plot, but apparently, not entirely divorced from reality.)
This joke works in so many different ways other than ‘the joke is that gay relationships are bad and gross’.
If the only way to read it as a joke was the homophobia angle, then yes it’d be homophobic.
But uh… yeah, I see many ways in which this is funny… the homophobia angle for this one didn’t even occur to me, and I’m a person who has been bullied quite a lot for my sexuality, I’ve heard a lot of the jokes.
The “homophobia” angle is “because you’re intimating gay is bad to humiliate trump”
Which is just terminally online batshit. Being a member of the Community isn’t shameful. But the idea that trump would submit to another man sure as hell is to him so fuckit.
Btw, i have aeen people legit claim that the phrase “butthurt” in and of itself is homophobic. I can only presume these people have never spoken to anyone who isn’t cishet in their lives
it used to refer to being spanked like a child who did something stupid
that makes no sense to me
That’s… A really gray area to be declaring homophobia and a lifetime ban, imo. One of those instances where talking it out and education would probably have been the better response, but it’s not way over the line either.
Ban is excessive and probably you should have just had a chance to learn how it’s not very funny to be like “Haha X is gay, hilarious”
- a fruit
Looks like you learned not to joke about straight people being gay like it’s something to make fun of. Probaby should have just deleted. Still, PTB — a forever ban is a bit much, especially when you tried to use it as a teaching moment.
And yes, part of the joke is a play on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Part of the joke is also about being gay.
Calling that homophobic is such a stretch it should be a yoga pose.
As a queer, maybe we don’t think “wow these 2 straight people are gay” is a funny joke. It’s definitely homophobic when the only joke is “lol straights are actually gay.” OP deserved it, it’s actually really easy not to be homophobic.
Below you can read the opinions of a bunch of straights and disregard them
That’s not the joke though.
It’s basically a pun or play on words based on Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ (the federal statute he signed) sounding like something he calls Bill Clinton, who he allegedly performed oral sex on.
The joke also works if Trump’s a woman who had a secret affair with Bill and signed the so called Big Beautiful Bill.
Of course, if the reason you’re laughing is ‘haha gay’ then that is homophobic, but technically the joke isn’t.
Thanks for your input. I had that in my mind when I posted it. However i see how it could be viewed differently.
The important thing is that being banned doesn’t matter at all.
I’m literally gay myself lmao.
Then you should recognize the harm done to you when your identity is the butt of a joke
What harm? The only person who is going to find it distasteful are the people who are homophobic. To anyone else it doesn’t matter because being gay isn’t something to get upset about. Moreover, we’re never going to be able to change their minds on being homophobic. As a gay dude myself, I also don’t find this remotely homophobic because being gay isn’t the butt of the joke. Them being so pathetically and desperately afraid of anyone who is gay is the joke. I don’t find much difference between this and me having personally claimed that Trump is actually gay privately due to how much he hates gay people.
Thr mental gymnastics folks do to defend their oppressors against their allies never ceases to amaze me
butt of a joke
Please tell me that was intentional lol.
I can’t resist a good butt pun
It is not blatantly homophobic but I find the meme distasteful.
PTB. It’s not even homophobic. In no way does the meme imply anything negative about homosexuality to begin with; it’s a play on words with a twist ending.
Sometimes actions have consequences. And getting banned in one of dozens of anarchist communities on the Fediverse is really not a big consequence.
Small tip: If you truly believe that what you did was homophobic, dont put “homophobia” in quotes. This makes it seem like you are not actually using your own words and are actually not meaning it.
PTB. The joke is a “secret lover”, nothing about sex or gender.
I think the meme has homophobic undertones, but it wasn’t posted with the intent to be homophobic.
Admins seem pretty gay. Post seems slightly gay. Source am 50%gay.
Fuck off
How homophobic
Sorry, I wanted serious answers.
I did answer seriously I didn’t think it was ban worthy. If you can’t understand basic humor, that’s not my fault.
Yeah, it flew over my head.
The mods of the comm are @Deceptichum@quokk.au and @_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus (_cryptagion has a comment in that post). Have you contacted them? A permaban in this case, when you have edited the post explaining that it was homophobic and why, seems excessive.
Edit: correcting mods links
the ban was handed out before they edited the post. long enough before that the first time I heard about the edit was today.
I’ve been a mod there for less than 24 hours, so I’ve no idea about any of this.
But looking at it, a disclaimer is a weak arse response to learning you’re posting something homophobic. You should have outright removed it at that stage yourself and the same goes for the copy you posted in whatever other community it was.
There is nothing homophobic about this. Trump loves his bill so much that if it was a person he would sleep with it
PTB if this is indeed the only homophobic thing you posted. IMO the disclaimer pretty much covers it, and a permaban isn’t warranted if that is truly all you did
the disclaimer was added after the ban had been executed.
Important context, not particularly PT, a tiny bit perhaps
I didnt even know I was banned during that time, I added disclaimer because other people explained to me why it was homophobic instead of calling me to be instance banned.
I get that, I was making it clear that I did not see you did some reflection until after you had been banned.
Did you contact the mods and told them your viewpoint?
One of the mods _cryptagion was on my post calling me to be instance banned instead of explaining. So I avoided them.
Sorry, I am just seeing their behaviour. This is straight up Power Tripping Reddit Mod Bullshit. You did right to avoid them, they sound perpetually upset.
Maybe dont post stuff where the butt of the “joke” is homosexuality.
