Hello, Students! By now I’m sure you’ve seen the newest avatars and gifts for June, which is PRIDE month. Many of you have mentioned how happy you are to see them, and we’re really glad to hear it! They were all made with everyone in mind. Some of you have expressed reservations or confusion, however, and we’d like to address those here. LGBTQ+ people are and have always been part of our community. They exist, they go to university, and some of them play our game. They have as much right to be represented as anyone else, and yet see themselves in media far, far less frequently. Some of our players see themselves in many of the avatars we create, and that is a wonderful thing. We strive to be inclusive with our items and avatars, and we will continue to do so going forward, because we think it’s important to try to build a community that see and accepts everyone in it. All of our avatars are created with the intent that they can be read in any number of ways, and players can interpret or grant them any orientation they like. For PRIDE, however, we wanted to ensure that those who don’t fit within the bounds of what society has traditionally considered to be “normal” can see themselves in PIMD in no uncertain terms. It is very normal for us to look around and see representations of heterosexual relationships and normalized gender identities, of “feminine” cisgender women with “masculine” cisgender men. These are and will continue to be valid identities, but they are not the only ones. That’s what makes PRIDE so important: it is the recognition that there are many, many other people who do not fit into those particular boxes, and we don’t see those people in media as often as we should. PRIDE is about visibility and acceptance of people who are often ignored and even attacked — as has been sadly, clearly visible even on our very own PIMD forum— just for being who they are. Our Terms of Use, found here http://www.partyinmydorm.com/tos.html, state that “by using Party In My Dorm, you agree not to upload, post, transmit, cause the display or performance of, or otherwise make available any content that: is harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, torturous, vulgar, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise offensive or discriminatory” What this means is that any comments made claiming that certain gender identities “aren’t real”, that the existence or depiction of a trans person is “sick”, that being gay is a “lifestyle choice”, and so on, are all no different from racism or other kinds of hatred and discrimination. Hate speech is not accepted under the Terms of Use, and acting in violation of the TOU can and does result in your account being silenced, suspended, or banned. We hope this PRIDE will be an opportunity to see, to experience, and to understand the people in your community. While the unknown can be daunting, in the end, stepping out of our comfort zones can bring us closer together.
I'm Pansexual. There's always going to be those people who do not accept it. But I find it's easier accepting that they won't, rather than trying to persuade them to accept us. As a member of the LGBTQ+ Community, I appreciate this ATA
BLESS YOU ATA. I'm straight but I have a lot of lgbt friends. I always join them in every pride march to show them my love and that I'm always be their no.1 supporter whatever gender they have. No hate, just love! LOVE WINS ? (PS:I'm the one in the middle)
We're all humans. If u don't support it just keep your mouth shut. Cause 9 times out of 10 you will say hateful things. I'm str8 but Pride stay happy.