Queer Hope on the Open Social Web

Being queer feels pretty rough right now...

I decided I wanted to write this blog on Monday, my gay birthday. Yes, like the queen, I celebrate two birthdays - my actual birth and when I came out. But, this year, I struggled to celebrate - even with my partner's best efforts to make it a fun day.

The world feels pretty bad right now as a young queer person, that's why I had to write this. It's complicated, sensitive, and personal. But, when I began this blog, I promised it would talk about my experiences on social media as a queer woman. Given recent events that feels more prominent than ever. I also, truly, believe that more needs to be done by the community of builders and thought-leaders here on the OSW to support LGBTQ+ people. Whilst the OSW could be the answer, we have to work harder to support marginalised groups and people.

Starting with the bad stuff

Being on social media day-in-day-out, both for work with the Newsmast Foundation and in a personal aspect, you cannot ignore what is happening in the world. Whether that's wars across the world, political bigwigs trying something new, or changes to laws and regulation which affect you or people close to you.

Obviously, things have been brewing for a while. We've seen politics across the world turn to the right, punishing minorities or those already struggling as they look for someone to blame for the world they damaged. The blame then falls to the groups which haven't always been as visible and are now having their visibility weaponised.

In the UK recently we've seen the redefinition of what it is to be a woman, altered specifically to exclude transwomen. This redefinition also outlines what it means to be a lesbian - something not many are aware of as it hasn't been covered by mainstream media.

Personally, I feel this redefinition is a shameful mistake. I have a lot of thoughts on it, but I'll try and keep it brief here.

The ruling reduces womanhood to a simple tick box that a number of women who campaigned for the change don't realise they won't fit in. The wording is ambiguous and creates confusion for all women over their womanhood. What is woman enough? I fear, as predicted in The Handmaid's Tale, that woman is reduced to the ability to produce children and meet western standards of femininity. I am certain that policing of the new definition will lead to assault on all types of women, but especially those which do not fit white western standards of femininity.

On top of that, we've just lost Pope Francis, the most progressive Pope the Catholic Church has ever had. Pope Francis didn't despise LGBTQ+ people, he spoke for peace, used his position to advocate for Palestine, and managed to fit into his last 24 hours the chance to humiliate JD Vance.

I'm guilty of forgetting just how powerful the papacy is, but the teachings of Pope Francis changed attitudes among Catholics across the globe. Imagine the damage a Pope who supports the Trump administration could do. Does the state and church working together to persecute people, predominantly women, who don't fit into a narrow box of behavior remind you of anything?

Now, this is on top of the ongoing situation in the US. Unlike predictions, the dangerous actions of the sitting president there seem to be continuing at pace making the country unsafe for visitors and its own citizens.

A queer OSW

Honestly, as more of these events take place the more I understand how the open social web can help us organise and build community in the face of this danger.

Platforms which are controlled and owned by individuals who are involved in harmful politics can not serve queer communities. It's true that queer community on platforms like X is easier to build, especially for young people. But how long is it before those communities are used as a map for witch hunts?

It's not easy to let go of, trust me, I know. I've never found an online queer community as good as the one I had on Twitter. But I realise that X as a platform is dangerous for queer people. Perhaps it always was, but it is especially true now with far less protection in place against hateful and harmful content.

Instead we can use this chance to build a place on the OSW for queer people. Give them the chance to build community on a platform they can control.

Society is going backwards, but the OSW can catapult us forward with diverse pioneers leading the charge.

I understand that, at the Newsmast Foundation, I am very lucky to be in a position where I can help shape community and next generation social media. As a young, queer, woman that is an opportunity not many have. But the open social web gives that opportunity to far more people than a closed platform like X ever will, that's why multiple platforms and protocols on the open social web have been shaped by queer people.

Why the OSW?

Honestly, because it's the only place I can imagine queer people having the ability to control their online presence.

As more members of the LGBTQ+ community are targeted by governments, we cannot trust a single platform to protect queer people.

I don't have an answer for which platform is the place to go. But that's why the OSW can help, you don't need a single platform to build community.

Easier said than done

Convincing LGBTQ+ people to turn away from Big Tech is easier said than done.

Speaking from personal experience, it's hard to find your people as a queer person. Great, there's two other LGBTQ+ people in your town but it doesn't mean you like the same things, have the same hobbies, and it definitely doesn't mean you're the same letter in the alphabet.

LGBTQ+ as a community is incredibly, incredibly, vast. That's why the sub-communities LGBTQ+ are clinging to are so important. They're communities that aren't built on the shared experience of being queer, it's being queer plus something.

I'll expose myself here, but for me that was being queer and liking women's football. For my partner, it was being queer and liking a certain musician. For my friend, it is being queer and liking Roman history.

There's more to LGBTQ+ people than their queerness. All the examples I mentioned above overlap, building a community - a group of friends. People dip in and out of communities they are interested in as well as engaging in the community they have built themselves around.

So, it's hard to replicate that. Very hard. But, in my opinion, communities on the OSW could be that. We just need to build for it.