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im gonna preface everything by saying i support transIDs, and i would say im very openminded about this stuff if anyone wants to discuss this with me

i do also identify with some transIDs, which i dont exactly care to share but i suppose i can if someone's curious lmao

anyway:

i think people with transIDs should do thorough research to make sure they understand the communities they're transitioning to. ESPECIALLY if its minorities or oppressed communities.

I think this rings especially true with transrace folk, especially transblack. I'll accept your identity no matter what but i will have a lot more respect for you if you have an understanding of racism and how it affects every part of peoples lives, and the history of racism and oppression of black/colored communities.

i think the same goes for transabled (specifically transdisabled). Even if you're not planning to physically transition, you should understand the struggles disabled people go through. How physical disabilities can affect mental health and vice versa. This also goes for mental disorders or disabilities, fyi.

I've always been iffy with transharmed/transharmful, but as long as everyone involved is consenting and VERY AWARE of the possible risks involved and there is proper, thorough communication, then I think its fine. Again, I'll support it, but that doesn't mean I have to be comfortable with it.

Also, hey, if you're any of these IDs, I'd love to hear what you think of about your experiences... I'm honestly new to the rq community, just wanted to throw my two cents into the ocean.

Also I'm not here to police your life!! Do whatever you want forever!! I'm just a dumb dog on the internet!! You don't have to do what I say!!

Also don't attack me or literally anyone ever over opinions thank you

preferably described in thesis length. :3

this response is going to be incredibly long , so i am warning you in advance .

i think a lot of the current “ anti — religion ” sentiment in online queer spaces comes from an ( to those types of people , in their minds ) understandable place of pain , but i also think it becomes deeply reactionary and often outright racist / islamophobic once people stop distinguishing between religious institutions , religious extremism , and religion as a lived cultural identity .

i say this as someone who is both very queer and very religious .

a lot of people in progressive spaces talk about religion as though it is uniquely irrational poison that humanity needs to “ evolve past , ” but the way this rhetoric gets deployed almost always targets marginalized peoples first . people say they hate “ all religions equally , ” but in practice , the mockery disproportionately lands on muslims , indigenous spiritual practices , sikhs , catholics from immigrant backgrounds , hindus , et cetera , while western secular norms are treated as neutral or enlightened . it becomes especially obvious whenever geopolitical conflict is involved . suddenly queer rights get weaponised as justification for imperialism , surveillance , bombing campaigns , sanctions , or cultural chauvinism .

you saw this constantly during the war on terror era . western countries would invade and destabilise muslim — majority nations while simultaneously positioning themselves as morally superior because of “ women’s rights ” or “ gay rights . ” but the actual concern was never queer liberation . the imperialist empire has never genuinely cared about queer people . the same governments bombing the middle east were also homophobic domestically not very long ago , and many still are . the rhetoric was just a convenient moral framework to paint colonised people as backwards savages needing western correction .

that mindset still exists online today . a lot of people unconsciously absorb this idea that religiosity itself is a marker of intellectual inferiority , especially among non — western peoples . so instead of critiquing reactionary leadership , state structures , patriarchal systems , or fundamentalism , they essentialise entire cultures and populations . islam especially gets treated as though 2 billion people are a singular hivemind . there’s no historical analysis , no material analysis , no understanding of colonialism or destabilisation — just “ religion bad . ”

and truthfully , i think this framework is incredibly reductive even outside of race and imperialism.

religion is not just a list of doctrines floating in a vacuum . it’s family , language , ritual , grief , music , ancestry , resistance , mourning practices , community care , cultural memory , and survival . especially for colonised peoples . so when people mock religion wholesale , they are very often mocking the ways oppressed groups preserved themselves historically .

catholicism for me is not reducible to “ old white men in the vatican . ” my faith is deeply tied to my understanding of love , sacrifice , forgiveness , discipline , dignity , and humanity . it informs how i approach liberation and care for others . and as someone who is queer , i reject the idea that i have to sever myself from spirituality in order to be acceptable to modern progressive spaces .

one thing that frustrates me is how online discourse tends to flatten queer religious people into contradictions . people act as though you are either :

1 . secretly self — hating ,

2 . brainwashed ,

3 . “ one of the good ones , ”

or 4 . too stupid to realise religion is supposedly evil .

but queer religious people have existed forever . we are not anomalies . we are not confused . we are not inherently less radical because we refuse the western secular framework that says faith itself is primitive .

i also think many online spaces fail to understand that anti — religious rhetoric often mirrors the exact same supremacist logic they claim to oppose . the idea that “ enlightened ” people must liberate “ backwards ” populations from their beliefs is not new . colonial powers used that exact rationale for centuries .

indigenous peoples were stripped of spiritual practices under the guise of civilisation . african spiritual systems were demonised . colonised catholics were controlled through selective tolerance and suppression . muslims were racialised into existential threats . religion was never treated neutrally under the imperialist core .

that does not mean religious leaders / institutions should never be criticised . obviously it should be . religious institutions have absolutely been responsible for horrific violence , abuse , misogyny , queerphobia , colonial collaboration , and repression . i’m not denying that whatsoever . i think criticism of institutions , clerical power , reactionary theology , and organised abuse is necessary .

but there is a massive difference between:

“ this government or religious leader harms people and should be challenged ”

versus

“ religious people are inherently irrational / barbaric / backwards . ”

the first is critique . the second is chauvinism .

and to be quite honest , some of the loudest anti — religious people online replicate the exact same dogmatism they claim to hate . they treat atheism not as a personal belief system but as a marker of moral and intellectual superiority . there’s this weird assumption that if humanity abandoned religion overnight , oppression would disappear . but fascism , colonialism , racism , eugenics , and genocide are not uniquely religious phenomena . some of the most violently oppressive projects in history were secular .

the problem is power . the problem is domination . the problem is hierarchy and exploitation .

religion can absolutely be weaponised by those systems . so can nationalism . so can secularism . so can science . so can liberalism . literally any ideology or institution can become reactionary under systems of power .

i think people also underestimate how much modern online anti — religious culture is shaped specifically by white western protestant assumptions . a lot of “ religion discourse ” online assumes an evangelical american framework and then projects it universally onto every religion and every culture on earth . but religion does not function identically across societies . the relationship between catholicism in latin america , islam in formerly colonised nations , indigenous syncretic traditions , black church traditions , et cetera — are all materially and historically distinct .

as someone deeply invested in anti — colonial politics , i think it’s incredibly important to avoid reproducing narratives that paint colonised peoples as uniquely regressive because of spirituality or religion . you can support queer liberation , women’s liberation , and secular governance without descending into civilisational chauvinism .

and frankly , i think queer spaces should be more capable of understanding complexity than they currently are . liberation should not require cultural sterilisation . queer people exist in every nation , every religion , every ethnicity , every historical period . we are not solely products of western secular modernity .

i’m completely fine with atheism . i genuinely do not care if someone is atheist . i have no interest in forcing religion onto anyone . but i do think there’s a difference between :

“ i personally do not believe in religion ”

and

“ religious people / cultures are fundamentally lesser . ”

one is a belief . the other very quickly becomes reactionary politics dressed up as progressivism .