Someone came to me, as a cisgender white guy that I know but I'm pretty sure never reads here yet (if he does later, oh well, I'll deal), and started a conversation with me about Hogwarts Legacy and the issues he wasn't quite aware of yet. I ended up talking with him for at least an hour. Explaining the issues with J.K. Rowling's extreme trans-phobia and how far that went, the anti-Semitism within it as best I could (that I noticed was a bit trickier to find good sources explaining the tropes, but not impossible) and the hiring of a gamer gate defender earlier in the games development.
I didn't quite bring myself to say "Yes I'll be angry to see you playing, streaming or talking about this game due to all that," but there's the thing: coming to me, a trans person who does have to deal with the consequences of trans-phobic rhetoric that ultimately encourages violence and leaves me afraid of my next door neighbors so much as suspecting I may be trans (where I live is one of the most strongly GOP leaning areas in the US), with 'hey do I really have to care about this?' puts a sort of pressure on me. An implication that my tacit approval is desired, rather than my entirely honest feelings. Because there's always going to be this sense in the back of my mind that one 'wrong' word could lead to another blow up, another fight, another time when it's easier to dismiss me as being 'wrong' for being angry. Leading to experiencing just a little bit more social isolation for speaking up for myself. A pressure to be 'one of the good ones', and not the 'angry ones' who get villainized for speaking up.
And, I do actually hate that. That feeling of expectation to be 'civil', and not 'tell people what to do'.
So, to heck with it. This is me saying if I see you promoting stuff associated with J.K. Queen TERF Rowling, I am going to ask myself if you care if I live or die. I am going to judge you for your choices. And I am going to be angry at you for them.
Because at the end of the day, I just want to be able to walk out my front door without any fear of who might notice that I'm a trans woman.
Deal.
So that guy was also in a tabletop game with myself and three other trans women including the GM (the one other he spoke to about the wizard game also guest stars in this game occasionally), and we could all see the discord status thing clearly proclaiming he was streaming the wizard game live. After he spoke to trans people about it and had it explained to him how giving money via royalties and promotion of her IP to JKR funds political action against us that endangers our lives. After he had the history of antisemitism in the HP stories and this game explained to him. And by all accounts it isn’t even a well made game (not that that should matter, it just further highlights how bullshit this all is).
The GM of that game spoke to me and the other trans women involved in the game and a consensus was reached that he should just be removed from the tabletop game, and he was. End of that.
Trans people are not here to only be supported when it is convenient. We are not disposable. There will be consequences when you break our trust.
