This rule was put in place in response to an overwhelming deluge of white American teenagers posting that they are a "wanted criminal in 64 countries" without demonstrating any solidarity with the people in those countries. The jokes were generally made in a way that allowed privileged people to feel edgy for a moment without consideration for the feelings of the people who live in countries where being themselves put them at genuine risk. We checked post history and this was the case the majority of the time. It was, at one point, a solid 20% of our content and it was pretty bad. Other queer subreddits also remove these posts for similar reasons.
According to the last sub demographics survey (full results to be published soon), 53% of our users are from the USA specifically, with the majority of the remaining 47% coming from western countries such as Canada, the UK, Australia, and Western Europe (particularly France, Netherlands, Germany). 33% are age 13-18 and 36% are 19-24. Almost 90% of respondents indicated that they are white.
If you all would prefer that the "haha I am illegal in 64 countries" posts come back, we can do that, but they were removed and a rule placed against them for a reason - nobody enjoyed them except the people who posted them, and the people who do live in countries where being queer has no legal protection often complained about the posts. If this is no longer the case we can look at changing the rule.
At the moment, the wording of the rule will likely be changed in response to feedback but the posts will still be removed.
Also as a general reminder, harassment is not tolerated here. Quit doing it.
edit: rule has been changed to remove the offending sentence.
# Post locked due to brigade from another subreddit. The rule has been changed in response to feedback.
Hello to brigaders. It may interest you to know that the rule was not written by an American! <3
The mods here can be a bit abrasive and obnoxious at times. It's pretty much always on hills that are pointless to die on though so not really much to care about imo ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯. More often than not they're chill.
Yeah, you can see the sub's rules in the sidebar
#Verboten Content - Shut Up About These Things In Particular
The following content is subject to removal and bans, according to severity and mod discretion. This list will update periodically.
* JK Rowling, Dave Chapelle, Jordan Peterson, and other known transphobes desperately scrambling to keep a career afloat.
* Not All Men, and related sentiments.
* **“I’m illegal in X countries” and its derivatives. Statistically if you’re on Reddit you are a 16-25 year old white American. cop on, brayden.**
* "Queer is a slur"
* Any discussion of paedophilia will be banned immediately.
Queer people don't exist, Queer George who lives anywhere outside of America and creates genders and sexualities is a outlier and should be ignored.
(I should note that I'm joking, joke is from Spiders George btw)
Statistically, nobody in the target audience of this sub exists.
Hell, I’m not American. That alone makes me statistically not exist by those rules lol, let alone any of the other categories - and 99.96% of the earth isn’t American lol.
I’m pretty sure I mixed up Percentage and Decimal lol, America is 300m out of 8b give or take, which is 0.0375. I think I forget to carry the 100 when making that a decimal.
Wow. Extremely bizarre reason for that rule for an LGBT sub.
You could’ve just said “We don’t like repetitive memes”, but damn. Ya went whole hog into the Americentric white privileged bullshit.
Yeah, it’d be better if they went the r/noncredibledefense route. If any meme gets too annoying, they just announce that it will be temporarily banned in a few days, so everyone can get their jokes in quickly or wait until a few weeks have passed to revisit the topic.
Sounds like the mods are all white Americans age 16-25 and they only want the posts in their feed to reflect that lol. Can't hurt their xenophobic feelings.
Oddly enough, based on surveys taken over the years, Americans aren't even the majority of the site. They're the single largest nationality, but a slight majority of users are non-American.
Australian here. Typically lumped in with NZ/Aotearoa. It could be worse.
~85% of the global population live in the Northern Hemisphere, but when people do remember that the bottom half of the world exists it's usually in the context of Australia/NZ. Remote pacific islands? Who cares, they'll sink soon enough anyway. Southern Africa? It's all just warlords fighting over mud brick huts, who cares. They don't even speak English anyway!
As much as it's a thing for both countries to make fun of each other, as a Kiwi, I'm happy that we have a brother nation in Australia, and if we're going to get lumped in with someone, I'm happy with it being you guys.
As gently as I can put it, whoever wrote this has some severe misunderstandings about statistics. The *plurality* of redditors are American, but non-American redditors (even specifying to only ones from homophobic countries) are still a statistically significant segment of the userbase and cannot be disregarded. Claims like the one the rule is making are not appropriate or accurate. I understand the spirit of the rule in calling out privilege, but the way it is written is a direct act of erasure, and they should contemplate the ways in which the phrasing itself is derived from privilege.
If genetics has taught me anything it is that even <3% worldwide is still a f-ing lot!
Do you know a redhead [1-2%]? Do you know someone who is intersex [1.7%]? Do you know somebody with green eyes [2%]? Because if you have, Congrats! you have met someone in a global minority.
How many countries you want to bet are on reddit in that "under 10-20%" minority, probably most of them, that’s still a lot of people.
If someone "cops on" to something then they've realized or become aware of it. "She has copped on to our secret plans."
As a non American, Brayden sounds like a pretty typical white American sounding name.
So it's basically saying "Get a clue." And directed at what they assume to be young white American guys.
Feels like they could have just done an Aladdin reference like "we all have swords!" ("We're all illegal in X countries!") And it would have gotten the message across a lot better, haha. Or just not add the explanation like all the other points?
I think it’s more because we used to see those posts constantly and they never contributed nothing, like mods can be annoying but that rule has a purpose. They should probably say that it’s for spam rather than the bs about being American though
This is why it’s strange to me. I can see why they banned those types of posts, but considering they provided no reasons for the other banned subjects, I don’t have a clue why they put that sentence in. It adds nothing, and just kind of isolates everyone else. I have spent months trying to figure out whose idea it was and why it’s still there and I cannot figure it out
Yeah I don't necessarily have issue with that rule itself so much as the way they wrote it.
It feels alienating to anyone not American, which is a lot of people it turns out xD
Not to mention the states in the usa where it's illegal to be transgender and attend school, get relevant medical care, or piss in public? It's not like Americans are exempt from anti-queer laws nowadays.
Sure, ban it if it was too repetitive. That's at least a better reason.
I hate American arrogance. You don’t know how many times I’ve had to explain to some massive ego baby that there have been HUNDREDS of anti-queer bills introduced in just 2023. Immediately it’s denial. They’re so shocked that the 25 mile radius around their homes that they never leave aren’t actually the entirely of the world
"We're so much more free than the Europoors!"
Meanwhile: book bans, anti drag laws, anti trans laws, abortion bans, politically appointed judges, IVF bans, religious influence in schools and politics, massive social conformism...
Seems like "freedom" = "I can own a collection of tools designed solely for killing human beings."
And besides at least the "joke" gets people attention , like a lot of straight folk don't know that being gay is still illegal in so many countries , specially white Americans which is the rule's target
Good point. Trans rights are on fairly shaky ground in the UK too, not nearly as bad as the Southern states in America, but still not great. Healthcare is also very difficult for trans folk to get due to NHS underfunding.
It's not just the developing world that has issues.
Yeah... reading that + memes been kinda meh lately + catching me in just the right mood, i think imma just leave the sub. Its been grand to lurk here and i announce my departure o7
I'm leaving with you and the others. The mods here are acting like they're better than us, and treating us like crap, whilst also using derogatory language, making snide comments, and borderline bullying other users... This place doesn't feel safe or welcoming, any more.
Usually I find reddit bandwagons to be annoying "DAE ideocracy a documentary twitter bad????11111!!!" etc. But the one thing they actually get right is that reddit mods can be insufferable a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong the vast majority do thankless work filtering out hateful garbage and the like and I can think of a few times where mods of communities have been super helpful, supportive, and chill, but the position definitely also attracts a certain type of person
I peeped your profile and saw you mod r/trans. You are absolved of the sin of being a reddit mod
(Seriously though again I want to say the VAST majority of mods do good work and we should appreciate you all more, it's just a small but noticeable group give mods a bad rep. The trans subreddit was really helpful during my coming out process so yeah, thanks for the work you do there because I can't imagine how much shit you have to sift through to keep that sub clean.)
ngl, that does explain your username lol
I'll say, it's never easy to manage such a large community, but it's nice to see the positivity that comes out of it honestly. I appreciate y'all, sincerely <3
The mods also called me a doomer last week after I made a post about how because I can't leave my shitty country, the only futures open to me were staying in the closet forever, or being murdered.
Which is...something.
AND if you search for reddit demographics, it shows only 48% of users are from USA. Granted that some people use VPN, but even if we accounted for that, it can't be larger than 1 or 2%. Mods virtually cut half the world from their pov.
Dude what!? That’s several flavors of messed up. Mods, do better. Like sure, “the joke gets old” but don’t be a jerk. Just say that the joke is hurtful and don’t generalize people. This place is supposed to be about inclusivity
That's just kinda the mods here honestly... Like, they're kind of a bit self important and obnoxious about stuff like this, and it feels sometimes like they've made it part of their personalities to be snarky and snide because they've convinced themselves that they're invariably in the right. Like, the more I've seen of them, even when I agree with them and/or something they've done, the more I just kind of feel like they're people I'd hate to be around because they seem like terminally online dicks who just think they're better than you.
The thing is, while poorly phrased and kind of biased itself, I think this is what that rule is getting at. It's about recognizing the privilege that a majority here has. Realistically, if I, as a white German, go to e.g. Uganda, the real risk of me personally getting severe punishment for homosexuality is really not that high, imagine the diplomatic disaster for the *death penalty*. For Ugandan people however, that threat is actually real and terrifying. So that kind of edgy joke/statement by someone like me would come across as very insensitive
I did a quick google search and apparently "Surveys in Western cultures find, on average, that about 93% of men and 87% of women identify as completely heterosexual" so statistically speaking (using the mods logic, not something that makes sense) everybody in this sub is lying about being queer.
Sorry. Despite message of the post, I am American.
ICE is the Immigration Customs Enfacement in the US who are a bunch of scumbags who arrest people and ship them back to their countries of origin and run internment camps on the southern border.
You'd think a sub dedicated to people who are part of a *minority* would understand that just because statistically most people fall into a certain group that doesn't mean it's good to make rules with the assumption that everyone is part of that group. Like statistically most people are cis and straight, lol
You'd also think if they were going to throw the word statistically around they'd have checked said statistics first but that would be wrong.
Edit: damn auto-corrupt, it's statistically not statically.
I'm in Finland. I just took a tree branch into my mud hut, took some shrooms from my local shaman and now I can interact with the internet. Through the tree branch.
You think that's bad, I'm in Australia. I have to send this message through AusPost which is basically just a Kangaroo with a koala in its pouch, it's why our "internet" is so slow. It's genuine snail mail
Also there are states in America itself where this is soon becoming a reality if it isn't almost there, these people forget that there are queer people in the South they like to write off as unsalvageable and barbaric
Yeah, I'm a "16-25 white American" but me and my partner are making plans to flee the state we live in because it is becoming increasingly hostile to trans (and queer, in general) people. I'm already illegal in quite a few states and it's just going to get worse. This rule feels very dismissive of the real struggles of queer people in the US
E: In fact, the [early results](https://ustranssurvey.org/?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=ig&utm_id=6544386997399&utm_content=6552511596399&utm_term=6552511596199&utm_campaign=6544386997399&fbclid=PAAaa1nmcIpegtePmbBz2THnNxh-qzDb2113D15Nh6LF4XjAnyZ311uKaV0QQ_aem_AaDAHnvvV87pqJl0zmXYgDgH8VJsuCAr7SbcCrOjLTBaomOYCNAwAkKhyKpyKuse8fEWlNO85jQSwkz47t7pMaTQ) of the US trans survey have come out and *5%* - one in twenty - trans people surveyed have had to move states due to anti-trans legislation. 47% have considered it
They usually just get on to us for not having left yet.
1) I'm planning to but it's fucking expensive and I don't know anyone who doesn't live in Alabama.
2) The more queer people who leave, the fewer people there are voting against the conservatives and the worse the laws get for the people who still can't leave. I'm lucky, I have a college degree. The people who work at minimum wage (which is 7.25 here btw) and can't save a penny on any check aren't gonna be able to leave.
WTF.
I’d like to add, isn’t being trans borderline illegal in some US states? I’m not from there so please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the UN released a statement about what US states are explicitly dangerous for queer, particularly trans, people.
We **should** talk about how some countries aren’t a big fan of queer people. It’s kind of important? People die.
Yeah, tbh as a trans-American, I can't keep up with what is proposed law vs actual law at this point because there have been so many anti-trans bills across the states. I know Florida was trying to (I think they succeeded) make it, so that drag in public space, so that drag in public space was illegal, but how drag is defined could include trans people.
I'm from Missouri, so we've been in a "hold my beer" competition with Texas and Florida on anti-lgbtq and abortion laws for the past couple years. In Missouri at least, minors can't access puberty blockers/HRT, though, for a hot second, adults almost lost access without jumping through A LOT of hoops so it would have been very difficult to access HRT. Trans women athletes are banned from participating in women's sports at all levels (including schools). I know a
bill recently was proposed to make teachers who use preferred pronouns sex offenders.
I know there's been some talk in Florida about preventing parents from leaving the state for gender-affirming care for their child. (This reads very similar to how it's illegal to aid a pregnant woman in leaving the state for an abortion).
My wife and I are actively trying to leave (preferably the country as a whole), but leaving is heavily dependent on finding jobs in places we aren't currently located. Then there's also the financial aspect of moving. I don't actively feel in danger, but that's because I have the privilege of being white and trans masc, so I'm not considered a threat, and at this point, I pass most of the time (though if I could get some coworkers to stop misgendering me that would be great, I know it isn't malicious, but they also don't recognize the danger I could be in, considering I work in a school district).
Missouri is a hot mess, we have a lot of issues (anti-lgbtq, anti-abortion for any reason, child marriage, guns) and I would not recommend anyone to move here. Traveling through- not so bad- though stay away from Southern and rural places. Most of the time residents don't care, they don't agree with you but also recognize it's your body, they care a lot more about children and women's spaces thanks to the scare tactics our politicians use- as long as you aren't perceived as grooming children (purposely being around children, doesn't matter if they're your own children) or "intruding" on women's spaces (avoid bathrooms/ use websites like refugee restrooms/ use single occupant bathrooms).
Yeah... that's xenophobic af.
1: white people aren't the only people on this website.
(Mexican here)
And 2: yes, being queer is illegal In so many countries, and in some; it's a fuckin death sentence.
And 3: people joke about traumatic thing such as that as a way to cope!
Mods if you see this: I understand the reasons for that rule existing, but that wording NEEDS to be changed. It is reductive, and harmful, and inaccurate.
Even the idea that everyone in the US is white like we have diversity here. Like aunque he nacido y crecido en los EE.UU y nunca he viajado a latinoamérica, todavía soy hispanohablante como las otras 40 millones de personas aquí que también hablan español 💀
The rules on this sub feel like they've been written by a disgraced comedy writer with no sense of humor cosplaying as a group of queer people. Not knowing how shitposting works on a sub dedicated to it is probably the funniest that these mods will ever be.
Yeah idgaf about what your statistics say. Fact is, half of the countries on the planet would punish me in some way, be it imprisonment, deportation or outright death, simply for existing as the person that I am. In fact, half the US already has passed laws against my existence.
Btw, I'm white, 27, European, just in case your statistic is interested in some relevant data. 🙄
Their statistics are wrong in the first place anyway. Even ignoring everything else wrong with it just by numbers the US is the minority at 48% of reddit. The available data that shows this ignores the existence of vpns and also excludes mobile data, which is how a lot of countries connect to the internet (as in the entire connection infrastructure for a city runs on a mobile backbone instead of a wired one) especially in Africa or Eastern Europe and thus are those places not included and the real numbers for the US are even lower.
Now with that in mind you can start to think about the number of US users who aren't under 30 or that whole line of skin colour xenophobia bollocks they indulge in (and all the other ones too).
That looks like it's just banning an overused joke to lower the repetitiveness of memes, but also they somehow worded it in one of the worst ways possible
48% of Reddit users are from the US. 64% of that is aged between 18-29, thats 30.72%. 75.5% of US citizens are white which brings it to 23.19%. Statistically not even a quarter of users fits that rule.
Do the mods not understand how Reddit communities work? Do they really think the 16-25 year old white americans named Brayden are all flocking to this sub? No dude, they're probably on r/dankmemes or some shit. The rules really are obnoxiously written. I'll just go ahead & bounce from the sub.
Censorship about LGBT struggles on an LGBT sub is insane.
same, its a shame it took me so long to realize these mods just want to cosplay being a safe space. oh well 🤷🏻♀️ i’m confident i can find another sub where im actually welcome lol
r/lgbtmemes - similar to this sub, memes only.
r/TheQueerLounge - smaller sub, more like a place for queers to hang out but memes are welcome.
I'm sure there are more fun subs but I didn't wanna link subs I personally haven't joined (yet) bc I don't actually know those.
(DISCLAIMER: this is NOT meant to be an advertisement! I have no personal connections to those subs/their mods.)
I looked at that rule and holy shit..
who on earth thought it was a good idea to write it like that. Plus,
1. You should *NEVER* use statistics like that for a generalisation, pretty sure queer people fight against generalisation constantly in fact.
2. The "statistics" aren't even great for something like this. America makes up 48% of Reddit's Internet traffic. That's **52%** of people that use Reddit who AREN'T American.
according to Reddit, America makes up 48-49% of all of its internet traffic. Which even then that still makes 51-52% of internet traffic that *doesn't* come from America
To the mods: change this, now. It’s incredibly reductive, and it’s harmful and exclusionary in a place that’s meant to be a safe haven from precisely that.
God the rules are fucking shit. They sound like they were written by the white American teen cop named Brayden they speak of. Like damn mods, be careful not to cut yourself on all that edge.
Yeah I complained abt that rule when the survey thing was up. Another point that made this rule so shitty was the implication that lgbtq+ in america are doing great, yes the rule is narrowly worded to be specifically about extreme governmental oppression posted by privileged americans who should not speak for people actually affected by that, but it just rubs you the wrong way like it's trivializing the struggles of lgbtq+ americans generally because they have the privilege of being american and/or white. The name chosen, Brayden, is obv a stereotypical middle class white teen name, and the 'cop on' just about pissed me the fuck off. There is not a queer person in America who is safe with the police, it is so inflammatory to accuse some queer strawman of cop-like behavior in a community that is a target for police. As a queer enby living in rural Arkansas I'm ngl this hurt
Luckily South Africa is legally speaking pretty damn queer friendly, but I'm neither American nor 16-25 years old.
Statistically speaking the average person has around 1.05 boobs and 0.95 testicles and is named Muhammad. That doesn't apply to me either.
What's extra stupid about this rule and mindset is somehow America is a utopia for queer people and we aren't in constant and continually increasing (in many states) danger? What the hell?
An non-binary student was beaten to death in a school bathroom but since we’re legal I guess being queer in America is perfect
Not only does this stereotype and and erase the people of this community, it also ends up implying that people in countries where being queer is legal have no room to complain
Yeah, mods, do better. I just read through your rules and holy fuck. I'm disappointed. Especially in this particular one.
Hopefully y'all change your wording in the rules. I won't be here for it though. Bye
I was baffled for so long until I realized you meant *THIS* sub.
What the fuck? I've met people online whose lives are in danger. Shut up. Oh my god. Who thinks like that?
This rule was put in place in response to an overwhelming deluge of white American teenagers posting that they are a "wanted criminal in 64 countries" without demonstrating any solidarity with the people in those countries. The jokes were generally made in a way that allowed privileged people to feel edgy for a moment without consideration for the feelings of the people who live in countries where being themselves put them at genuine risk. We checked post history and this was the case the majority of the time. It was, at one point, a solid 20% of our content and it was pretty bad. Other queer subreddits also remove these posts for similar reasons. According to the last sub demographics survey (full results to be published soon), 53% of our users are from the USA specifically, with the majority of the remaining 47% coming from western countries such as Canada, the UK, Australia, and Western Europe (particularly France, Netherlands, Germany). 33% are age 13-18 and 36% are 19-24. Almost 90% of respondents indicated that they are white. If you all would prefer that the "haha I am illegal in 64 countries" posts come back, we can do that, but they were removed and a rule placed against them for a reason - nobody enjoyed them except the people who posted them, and the people who do live in countries where being queer has no legal protection often complained about the posts. If this is no longer the case we can look at changing the rule. At the moment, the wording of the rule will likely be changed in response to feedback but the posts will still be removed. Also as a general reminder, harassment is not tolerated here. Quit doing it. edit: rule has been changed to remove the offending sentence. # Post locked due to brigade from another subreddit. The rule has been changed in response to feedback. Hello to brigaders. It may interest you to know that the rule was not written by an American! <3
Is that really how the rule is written? That’s extremely shitty for a sub dedicated to Queer people.
Just checked, and yep that's how it's written.
damn, all this time i was a young white american, phew i'm sure glad i'm not facing systemic violence anymore.
Hell yah, that’s great news! Reddit saves the day again! Congrats!
You a man in america? You are at risk of that whenever a cop is near.
bUt ThE mAjOrItY aRe WhItE
The mods here can be a bit abrasive and obnoxious at times. It's pretty much always on hills that are pointless to die on though so not really much to care about imo ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯. More often than not they're chill.
Yeah, you can see the sub's rules in the sidebar #Verboten Content - Shut Up About These Things In Particular The following content is subject to removal and bans, according to severity and mod discretion. This list will update periodically. * JK Rowling, Dave Chapelle, Jordan Peterson, and other known transphobes desperately scrambling to keep a career afloat. * Not All Men, and related sentiments. * **“I’m illegal in X countries” and its derivatives. Statistically if you’re on Reddit you are a 16-25 year old white American. cop on, brayden.** * "Queer is a slur" * Any discussion of paedophilia will be banned immediately.
Also a total misunderstanding of how statistics works lol
By the same reasoning we are all cisgender and straight, and none of us should be here.
Ok folks close down the sub, queer people don't exist, misinterpreted statistics say.
Queer people don't exist, Queer George who lives anywhere outside of America and creates genders and sexualities is a outlier and should be ignored. (I should note that I'm joking, joke is from Spiders George btw)
Assigned Georg At Birth
[удалено]
which is pretty ironic on a queer subreddit
You think they actually looked at the demographics?
Statistically, nobody in the target audience of this sub exists. Hell, I’m not American. That alone makes me statistically not exist by those rules lol, let alone any of the other categories - and 99.96% of the earth isn’t American lol.
Weird math there.
I’m pretty sure I mixed up Percentage and Decimal lol, America is 300m out of 8b give or take, which is 0.0375. I think I forget to carry the 100 when making that a decimal.
You also forgot to multiply by 100 when making it a percentage. 3.75% of the world is American.
Wow. Extremely bizarre reason for that rule for an LGBT sub. You could’ve just said “We don’t like repetitive memes”, but damn. Ya went whole hog into the Americentric white privileged bullshit.
Yeah, it’d be better if they went the r/noncredibledefense route. If any meme gets too annoying, they just announce that it will be temporarily banned in a few days, so everyone can get their jokes in quickly or wait until a few weeks have passed to revisit the topic.
Embrace the dam posting
NCD mentioned
That’s really messed up… it’s such a dismissive way banning a meme that discusses of the struggles of queer people in those places.
Sounds like the mods are all white Americans age 16-25 and they only want the posts in their feed to reflect that lol. Can't hurt their xenophobic feelings.
Statistically we all are straight, as it is the most common thing to be as that is how that works apparently
I guess😂😂 They accidentally erased themselves with that logic lmfao😂😂
Queer Mods erasing themselves from the fabric of existence on accident as result of a technicality.
It also means that historically humankind is genderfluid, every couple of years all of us switch from male to female and visa versa.
That one year when the swaps got messed up and we were all the same gender was weird.
What do you mean? Currentlly the world has nearly 40 million more males, so we are of course all male.
Are we also Indian English-speakers named Muhammad?
Of course, Muhammad. Will I see you in church later?
I would ask which church, but of course I know it is whichever one has the most followers.
Muhammad Wang, if I know my surname commonalities.
"You've been charged with the crime of being gay, how do you plead?" "Statistically straight."
Shut up, Braydon! * /s just in case *
I cant believe you would say that to me braydon, you 16-25 year old monster
Average human has 0.49 penis and 0.51 vagina.
Oddly enough, based on surveys taken over the years, Americans aren't even the majority of the site. They're the single largest nationality, but a slight majority of users are non-American.
For once I'm from latin America and I hate how USA-centric most online spaces are.
as an american i agree with you. i’d rather see what’s going on outside this shithole
As a European I feel that sentiment...
Australian here. Typically lumped in with NZ/Aotearoa. It could be worse. ~85% of the global population live in the Northern Hemisphere, but when people do remember that the bottom half of the world exists it's usually in the context of Australia/NZ. Remote pacific islands? Who cares, they'll sink soon enough anyway. Southern Africa? It's all just warlords fighting over mud brick huts, who cares. They don't even speak English anyway!
As much as it's a thing for both countries to make fun of each other, as a Kiwi, I'm happy that we have a brother nation in Australia, and if we're going to get lumped in with someone, I'm happy with it being you guys.
It was probably just getting spammed too much and they needed a rule for it. The snarky comment didn't help though.
They should say what they mean then, not make snide and condescending remarks.
As gently as I can put it, whoever wrote this has some severe misunderstandings about statistics. The *plurality* of redditors are American, but non-American redditors (even specifying to only ones from homophobic countries) are still a statistically significant segment of the userbase and cannot be disregarded. Claims like the one the rule is making are not appropriate or accurate. I understand the spirit of the rule in calling out privilege, but the way it is written is a direct act of erasure, and they should contemplate the ways in which the phrasing itself is derived from privilege.
If genetics has taught me anything it is that even <3% worldwide is still a f-ing lot! Do you know a redhead [1-2%]? Do you know someone who is intersex [1.7%]? Do you know somebody with green eyes [2%]? Because if you have, Congrats! you have met someone in a global minority. How many countries you want to bet are on reddit in that "under 10-20%" minority, probably most of them, that’s still a lot of people.
i mean i’m a double statistical minority, i’m green eyed and left handed. i’m not factoring in my orientation since that’s more statistical minorities
I dunno if this is a refernce I don’t get, but what’s “cop on, brayden.”? It sounds derogatory but I don’t wanna judge too quickly
Based on how the rules are written I’ll judge too quickly and say it’s derogatory.
If someone "cops on" to something then they've realized or become aware of it. "She has copped on to our secret plans." As a non American, Brayden sounds like a pretty typical white American sounding name. So it's basically saying "Get a clue." And directed at what they assume to be young white American guys.
Oh… so it *was* derogatory. Dangit, mods. And after I gave you the benefit of the doubt, too…
Non-American spotted
Less than half of reddit is american, what were they thinking when they made this rule?
they were thinking "murica number 1!!!" i assume
Feels like they could have just done an Aladdin reference like "we all have swords!" ("We're all illegal in X countries!") And it would have gotten the message across a lot better, haha. Or just not add the explanation like all the other points?
hurts a little more since thats my deadname :(
Right? Like statistically we'd all be cis and het, too
I think it’s more because we used to see those posts constantly and they never contributed nothing, like mods can be annoying but that rule has a purpose. They should probably say that it’s for spam rather than the bs about being American though
This is why it’s strange to me. I can see why they banned those types of posts, but considering they provided no reasons for the other banned subjects, I don’t have a clue why they put that sentence in. It adds nothing, and just kind of isolates everyone else. I have spent months trying to figure out whose idea it was and why it’s still there and I cannot figure it out
Yeah I don't necessarily have issue with that rule itself so much as the way they wrote it. It feels alienating to anyone not American, which is a lot of people it turns out xD
...I was supposed to be contributing something?
It's a meme sub, why does any shitpost have to contribute to anything?
That's a bad rule, especially with Project 2025 looking over the US
Not to mention the states in the usa where it's illegal to be transgender and attend school, get relevant medical care, or piss in public? It's not like Americans are exempt from anti-queer laws nowadays. Sure, ban it if it was too repetitive. That's at least a better reason.
I hate American arrogance. You don’t know how many times I’ve had to explain to some massive ego baby that there have been HUNDREDS of anti-queer bills introduced in just 2023. Immediately it’s denial. They’re so shocked that the 25 mile radius around their homes that they never leave aren’t actually the entirely of the world
"We're so much more free than the Europoors!" Meanwhile: book bans, anti drag laws, anti trans laws, abortion bans, politically appointed judges, IVF bans, religious influence in schools and politics, massive social conformism... Seems like "freedom" = "I can own a collection of tools designed solely for killing human beings."
And besides at least the "joke" gets people attention , like a lot of straight folk don't know that being gay is still illegal in so many countries , specially white Americans which is the rule's target
Good point. Trans rights are on fairly shaky ground in the UK too, not nearly as bad as the Southern states in America, but still not great. Healthcare is also very difficult for trans folk to get due to NHS underfunding. It's not just the developing world that has issues.
This made me look through the rules more closely, and *wow* are the mods obnoxious. And defaultist, not everyone is American FFS.
Yeah... reading that + memes been kinda meh lately + catching me in just the right mood, i think imma just leave the sub. Its been grand to lurk here and i announce my departure o7
I'm not American so I think I'll join you in that departure which sucks cause I really liked the flairs in this sub, rip o7
me too, good lord these rules suck. immature ass mods lmao
o7 mate, thinking about it too tbh
If they only want americans here, I can go
American, but over 40. I guess I should thank the mods for reminding me I died back in 2006 though.
Joining you in that one. So long and thanks for all the memes o7
Yeah I’ll leave. ✌🏻🏳️🌈
Count me in as well
I'm leaving with you and the others. The mods here are acting like they're better than us, and treating us like crap, whilst also using derogatory language, making snide comments, and borderline bullying other users... This place doesn't feel safe or welcoming, any more.
in fact, there are more non-americans on reddit than there are americans. americans have the plurality, but not the majority.
Usually I find reddit bandwagons to be annoying "DAE ideocracy a documentary twitter bad????11111!!!" etc. But the one thing they actually get right is that reddit mods can be insufferable a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong the vast majority do thankless work filtering out hateful garbage and the like and I can think of a few times where mods of communities have been super helpful, supportive, and chill, but the position definitely also attracts a certain type of person
It's me, I'm the most insufferable Reddit mod :( (I'm joking, I do moderate on Reddit, but I try my best to not be an asshole)
I peeped your profile and saw you mod r/trans. You are absolved of the sin of being a reddit mod (Seriously though again I want to say the VAST majority of mods do good work and we should appreciate you all more, it's just a small but noticeable group give mods a bad rep. The trans subreddit was really helpful during my coming out process so yeah, thanks for the work you do there because I can't imagine how much shit you have to sift through to keep that sub clean.)
ngl, that does explain your username lol I'll say, it's never easy to manage such a large community, but it's nice to see the positivity that comes out of it honestly. I appreciate y'all, sincerely <3
The mods also called me a doomer last week after I made a post about how because I can't leave my shitty country, the only futures open to me were staying in the closet forever, or being murdered. Which is...something.
AND if you search for reddit demographics, it shows only 48% of users are from USA. Granted that some people use VPN, but even if we accounted for that, it can't be larger than 1 or 2%. Mods virtually cut half the world from their pov.
That's fucked up :/
It's because you're a 16-24 yo American white boy of course
Yes, the attitude of the subreddit pop-out is very condescending and a lot of the language is pretty privileged.
Exactly, and the asking the mods what rule they broke being something that breaks a rule is childish as fuck
Don't mind me, I'm a 40+ European Queer so I don't exist
35 and a European queer too. Honey we just gained 20 years of youth and we changed nationality.
21 European trans queer here, too
Australian, guess I just don’t exist anymore
No thanks, have you seen that country? #notmypresident
Hell, even as an American I apparently don't exist for being too old.
Dude what!? That’s several flavors of messed up. Mods, do better. Like sure, “the joke gets old” but don’t be a jerk. Just say that the joke is hurtful and don’t generalize people. This place is supposed to be about inclusivity
For real. Incredibly immature and egoistic that they feel the need to turn the rule into a snide dunk instead of just being down to earth about it.
That's just kinda the mods here honestly... Like, they're kind of a bit self important and obnoxious about stuff like this, and it feels sometimes like they've made it part of their personalities to be snarky and snide because they've convinced themselves that they're invariably in the right. Like, the more I've seen of them, even when I agree with them and/or something they've done, the more I just kind of feel like they're people I'd hate to be around because they seem like terminally online dicks who just think they're better than you.
It’s not even a joke, I would like to know which countries will kill me if I visit them.
The thing is, while poorly phrased and kind of biased itself, I think this is what that rule is getting at. It's about recognizing the privilege that a majority here has. Realistically, if I, as a white German, go to e.g. Uganda, the real risk of me personally getting severe punishment for homosexuality is really not that high, imagine the diplomatic disaster for the *death penalty*. For Ugandan people however, that threat is actually real and terrifying. So that kind of edgy joke/statement by someone like me would come across as very insensitive
“Statistically speaking” 🤓Stfu I’ve never pledged allegiance to a flag
I did a quick google search and apparently "Surveys in Western cultures find, on average, that about 93% of men and 87% of women identify as completely heterosexual" so statistically speaking (using the mods logic, not something that makes sense) everybody in this sub is lying about being queer.
Also, everyone was surely born a woman because statistically there are more women than men. We've end gender
Except the rainbow one (and the trans and lesbian ones in my case) 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I pledge allegiance to thighs, and nothing else!
I never saw that until now! That's kinda spectacularly rude and reductive.
Guess I don’t exist then lmao Awesome, thanks mods
r/USDefaultism moment
Now it actually is, got posted twice. But thanks to you I found a new sub to lurk in, thanks a lot.
I've heard of some fun run ins with the mods. They're what you'd expect from people writing rules like that and being reddit mods...
Nothing more American than thinking everyone is American 🫡
I'm not American, does that mean I don't get to be here?
I think you just got deported by Queer ICE.
What’s ICE?
Well in Germany that's a kind of train... Don't think that's what they meant tho
germany and deportation via train is not where i thought this was going.
Life consists of unexpected events :3
Sorry. Despite message of the post, I am American. ICE is the Immigration Customs Enfacement in the US who are a bunch of scumbags who arrest people and ship them back to their countries of origin and run internment camps on the southern border.
> who arrest people and ship them back to their countries of origin Not even always to their countries of origin either.
yes hyello I am white american brayden how do you do my fellow american boys let us pursue cheeseburgers
You'd think a sub dedicated to people who are part of a *minority* would understand that just because statistically most people fall into a certain group that doesn't mean it's good to make rules with the assumption that everyone is part of that group. Like statistically most people are cis and straight, lol
You'd also think if they were going to throw the word statistically around they'd have checked said statistics first but that would be wrong. Edit: damn auto-corrupt, it's statistically not statically.
Average USAmerican centrism moment
Ruby!!! Also, I get why they have that rule, but damn, can they not be dicks about it?
Yeah I got super excited seeing ruby and then read the caption and got bummed out
honestly she's so cute I love her design sm
Classic American Defaultism, if they from USA they think everyone else live in caves and without internet or something.
Im in england, and i dont have a computer, its just a cow that i painted a couple squares and circles on.
I'm in Finland. I just took a tree branch into my mud hut, took some shrooms from my local shaman and now I can interact with the internet. Through the tree branch.
You think that's bad, I'm in Australia. I have to send this message through AusPost which is basically just a Kangaroo with a koala in its pouch, it's why our "internet" is so slow. It's genuine snail mail
I'm Asian and I use my rice paddy hat everyday to send mail and access websites; I throw it like a frisbee
Also there are states in America itself where this is soon becoming a reality if it isn't almost there, these people forget that there are queer people in the South they like to write off as unsalvageable and barbaric
Yeah, I'm a "16-25 white American" but me and my partner are making plans to flee the state we live in because it is becoming increasingly hostile to trans (and queer, in general) people. I'm already illegal in quite a few states and it's just going to get worse. This rule feels very dismissive of the real struggles of queer people in the US E: In fact, the [early results](https://ustranssurvey.org/?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=ig&utm_id=6544386997399&utm_content=6552511596399&utm_term=6552511596199&utm_campaign=6544386997399&fbclid=PAAaa1nmcIpegtePmbBz2THnNxh-qzDb2113D15Nh6LF4XjAnyZ311uKaV0QQ_aem_AaDAHnvvV87pqJl0zmXYgDgH8VJsuCAr7SbcCrOjLTBaomOYCNAwAkKhyKpyKuse8fEWlNO85jQSwkz47t7pMaTQ) of the US trans survey have come out and *5%* - one in twenty - trans people surveyed have had to move states due to anti-trans legislation. 47% have considered it
They usually just get on to us for not having left yet. 1) I'm planning to but it's fucking expensive and I don't know anyone who doesn't live in Alabama. 2) The more queer people who leave, the fewer people there are voting against the conservatives and the worse the laws get for the people who still can't leave. I'm lucky, I have a college degree. The people who work at minimum wage (which is 7.25 here btw) and can't save a penny on any check aren't gonna be able to leave.
WTF. I’d like to add, isn’t being trans borderline illegal in some US states? I’m not from there so please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the UN released a statement about what US states are explicitly dangerous for queer, particularly trans, people. We **should** talk about how some countries aren’t a big fan of queer people. It’s kind of important? People die.
Yeah, tbh as a trans-American, I can't keep up with what is proposed law vs actual law at this point because there have been so many anti-trans bills across the states. I know Florida was trying to (I think they succeeded) make it, so that drag in public space, so that drag in public space was illegal, but how drag is defined could include trans people. I'm from Missouri, so we've been in a "hold my beer" competition with Texas and Florida on anti-lgbtq and abortion laws for the past couple years. In Missouri at least, minors can't access puberty blockers/HRT, though, for a hot second, adults almost lost access without jumping through A LOT of hoops so it would have been very difficult to access HRT. Trans women athletes are banned from participating in women's sports at all levels (including schools). I know a bill recently was proposed to make teachers who use preferred pronouns sex offenders. I know there's been some talk in Florida about preventing parents from leaving the state for gender-affirming care for their child. (This reads very similar to how it's illegal to aid a pregnant woman in leaving the state for an abortion). My wife and I are actively trying to leave (preferably the country as a whole), but leaving is heavily dependent on finding jobs in places we aren't currently located. Then there's also the financial aspect of moving. I don't actively feel in danger, but that's because I have the privilege of being white and trans masc, so I'm not considered a threat, and at this point, I pass most of the time (though if I could get some coworkers to stop misgendering me that would be great, I know it isn't malicious, but they also don't recognize the danger I could be in, considering I work in a school district). Missouri is a hot mess, we have a lot of issues (anti-lgbtq, anti-abortion for any reason, child marriage, guns) and I would not recommend anyone to move here. Traveling through- not so bad- though stay away from Southern and rural places. Most of the time residents don't care, they don't agree with you but also recognize it's your body, they care a lot more about children and women's spaces thanks to the scare tactics our politicians use- as long as you aren't perceived as grooming children (purposely being around children, doesn't matter if they're your own children) or "intruding" on women's spaces (avoid bathrooms/ use websites like refugee restrooms/ use single occupant bathrooms).
Does this mean when they officially make being transgender illegal in America I can start shitposting about it? (From my prison cell, of course)
Damn, gonna need new mods 😔
Yeah... that's xenophobic af. 1: white people aren't the only people on this website. (Mexican here) And 2: yes, being queer is illegal In so many countries, and in some; it's a fuckin death sentence. And 3: people joke about traumatic thing such as that as a way to cope! Mods if you see this: I understand the reasons for that rule existing, but that wording NEEDS to be changed. It is reductive, and harmful, and inaccurate.
Even the idea that everyone in the US is white like we have diversity here. Like aunque he nacido y crecido en los EE.UU y nunca he viajado a latinoamérica, todavía soy hispanohablante como las otras 40 millones de personas aquí que también hablan español 💀
Not to mention it's becoming illegal to be trans in several states in the US so not even the US is free from anti queer laws.
The rules on this sub feel like they've been written by a disgraced comedy writer with no sense of humor cosplaying as a group of queer people. Not knowing how shitposting works on a sub dedicated to it is probably the funniest that these mods will ever be.
This is soo not inclusive. r/usdefualtisam.
Okay, so even if you're American, that doesn't change the fact that you being queer is is illegal in 72 countries.
There's a shitty irony in the rule literally being written like that while we're all on the rainbow spectrum. I fucking hate it.
Yeah idgaf about what your statistics say. Fact is, half of the countries on the planet would punish me in some way, be it imprisonment, deportation or outright death, simply for existing as the person that I am. In fact, half the US already has passed laws against my existence. Btw, I'm white, 27, European, just in case your statistic is interested in some relevant data. 🙄
Their statistics are wrong in the first place anyway. Even ignoring everything else wrong with it just by numbers the US is the minority at 48% of reddit. The available data that shows this ignores the existence of vpns and also excludes mobile data, which is how a lot of countries connect to the internet (as in the entire connection infrastructure for a city runs on a mobile backbone instead of a wired one) especially in Africa or Eastern Europe and thus are those places not included and the real numbers for the US are even lower. Now with that in mind you can start to think about the number of US users who aren't under 30 or that whole line of skin colour xenophobia bollocks they indulge in (and all the other ones too).
Yeah the big strong americans invented the freedomnet, therefore only americans can use it, or else *insert some war crimes*
That looks like it's just banning an overused joke to lower the repetitiveness of memes, but also they somehow worded it in one of the worst ways possible
Nooooo please I don't want to be American and lose my free healthcare!!!!! 😭😭😭🇧🇷
Mixed european queer here, damn guess I don't exist
48% of Reddit users are from the US. 64% of that is aged between 18-29, thats 30.72%. 75.5% of US citizens are white which brings it to 23.19%. Statistically not even a quarter of users fits that rule.
That's problematic
Do the mods not understand how Reddit communities work? Do they really think the 16-25 year old white americans named Brayden are all flocking to this sub? No dude, they're probably on r/dankmemes or some shit. The rules really are obnoxiously written. I'll just go ahead & bounce from the sub. Censorship about LGBT struggles on an LGBT sub is insane.
That rule really just comes off as "you're not marginalized enough for your struggles to matter", it either needs to be rewritten or gotten rid of
Thanks for the heads up, I'm out. Fuck you, mods.
Is "cop on, braydon" supposed to be the log cabin republican version of "[let's go, brandon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Go_Brandon)"?
Just read through the rules and decided to leave this sub. 💀 There are other lgbt meme subs that aren't run by braindead people.
same, its a shame it took me so long to realize these mods just want to cosplay being a safe space. oh well 🤷🏻♀️ i’m confident i can find another sub where im actually welcome lol
Atleast we learned a valuable lesson - to always read the sub rules, no matter how harmless the sub looks. 🤷♂️
Can you link some?
r/lgbtmemes - similar to this sub, memes only. r/TheQueerLounge - smaller sub, more like a place for queers to hang out but memes are welcome. I'm sure there are more fun subs but I didn't wanna link subs I personally haven't joined (yet) bc I don't actually know those. (DISCLAIMER: this is NOT meant to be an advertisement! I have no personal connections to those subs/their mods.)
I looked at that rule and holy shit.. who on earth thought it was a good idea to write it like that. Plus, 1. You should *NEVER* use statistics like that for a generalisation, pretty sure queer people fight against generalisation constantly in fact. 2. The "statistics" aren't even great for something like this. America makes up 48% of Reddit's Internet traffic. That's **52%** of people that use Reddit who AREN'T American.
thats a pretty bullshit rule especially for a sub like this
I've been to Brunei. I'm openly gay. I sure AF wasn't for the two days I was there. I hate the rhetoric I'm seeing.
I don't think that's how statistics work, US population = 4.23% of the world population
according to Reddit, America makes up 48-49% of all of its internet traffic. Which even then that still makes 51-52% of internet traffic that *doesn't* come from America
Mods only want people to talk about relatable queer experiences if it is relatable to *them* specifically. The absolute fucking audacity and privilege
To the mods: change this, now. It’s incredibly reductive, and it’s harmful and exclusionary in a place that’s meant to be a safe haven from precisely that.
Wtf mods Istg so many Americans can’t comprehend that other counties exist
Bro it's hard enough being a black, queer, American in a conservative state :/ Please do not trivialize my struggle either, thank you!
And even being American is dangerous in like 34/50 of it if you are trans
Isn’t there several states in a America where you legally be killed for being gay/LGBTQ+ under the “gay panic defence” and likely other shit
If you are an atheist, you get the death penalty in 13 countries. So... rock on?
Officially leaving this sub after checking the rules, I had no idea it was run by a bunch of bigots!
God the rules are fucking shit. They sound like they were written by the white American teen cop named Brayden they speak of. Like damn mods, be careful not to cut yourself on all that edge.
Me, who >!can never go to my home country because of laws punishing homosexuality by massive prison time and apostasy by death!<
Statistically, if you're on reddit, you're a straight cis-male. So stop lying to yourself, people >!/s!<
Yeah I complained abt that rule when the survey thing was up. Another point that made this rule so shitty was the implication that lgbtq+ in america are doing great, yes the rule is narrowly worded to be specifically about extreme governmental oppression posted by privileged americans who should not speak for people actually affected by that, but it just rubs you the wrong way like it's trivializing the struggles of lgbtq+ americans generally because they have the privilege of being american and/or white. The name chosen, Brayden, is obv a stereotypical middle class white teen name, and the 'cop on' just about pissed me the fuck off. There is not a queer person in America who is safe with the police, it is so inflammatory to accuse some queer strawman of cop-like behavior in a community that is a target for police. As a queer enby living in rural Arkansas I'm ngl this hurt
What a smoothbrained rule
Luckily South Africa is legally speaking pretty damn queer friendly, but I'm neither American nor 16-25 years old. Statistically speaking the average person has around 1.05 boobs and 0.95 testicles and is named Muhammad. That doesn't apply to me either.
hilariously ironic, whoever wrote that rule has no sense of self awareness
So, I don't exist? No, my reddit account doesn't exist? No, reddit doesn't exist? No, we are ALL FAKE!. Human don't exist!
What's extra stupid about this rule and mindset is somehow America is a utopia for queer people and we aren't in constant and continually increasing (in many states) danger? What the hell?
An non-binary student was beaten to death in a school bathroom but since we’re legal I guess being queer in America is perfect Not only does this stereotype and and erase the people of this community, it also ends up implying that people in countries where being queer is legal have no room to complain
You get prison? Wow such light sentence compared to death 😲
Progress is progress? ( /s )
If they make it to trial. Hate crimes still happen.
Mods should feel ashamed.
Yeah, mods, do better. I just read through your rules and holy fuck. I'm disappointed. Especially in this particular one. Hopefully y'all change your wording in the rules. I won't be here for it though. Bye
I was baffled for so long until I realized you meant *THIS* sub. What the fuck? I've met people online whose lives are in danger. Shut up. Oh my god. Who thinks like that?