this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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Blåhaj Lemmy is a Lemmy instance attached to blahaj.zone. This is a group for questions or discussions relevant to either instance.

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This post is "FYI only" for blahaj lemmy members. It is not a debate, and is not intended for non blahaj lemmy users to weigh in and offer opinions.

I recently received reports of a feddit.uk user espousing transphobia. Specifically, this was a feddit.uk user refusing to use the word cis, repeating the "adult human female" dog whistle, and claiming that trans women are not women. I approached a member of the feddit.uk admin team and raised my concerns and sought clarification of their stance on posts like this, where the transphobia is mostly dogwhistles, and "civil disagreement" on the validity of trans folk.

I was told by the feddit.uk admin that their preferred response is this kind of transphobia is to "sort it out through discussion and voting". However, the comments in question are currently more upvoted than downvoted, and little "sorting out" has occurred. The posts remain in place.

At this point, the admin stopped responding to my messages despite being active elsewhere on lemmy. When it became clear they were ignoring my messages and had no intention of removing the posts in question, I made the decision to defederate the instance.

I know some folk agree with the feddit.uk admins approach of pushback through discussion and voting, but this instance is not designed to be that kind of space. Blahaj lemmy is meant to be a place where we can avoid the rampant transphobia universally visible on nearly every other social media platform, and where we can exist without needing to debate our right to do so.

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[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 213 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

Obviously I'm not on blahaj, but I think the decision is pretty on point for the goals of blahaj.

It also makes me disappointed in feddit.uk. "Leave it to discussion/votes" is bullshit and just support for the behavior.

Edit: The admin responded elsewhere with "we want to make sure we comply with the law".

My comment remains unchanged. Allowing this is support. Fuck your bullshit law. You're explicitly supporting this bullshit by your inaction.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 90 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Right? Imagine if you said that about the rights for like black women or something? Like, come ON. It's 2025, we KNOW these behaviors are bigoted, rules are way too chill with letting shit like that fly, and is part of the reason it's so prolific now - it's not being treated like the hate speech that it is, and people in power in certain places are like "no I'm not sure we need to discuss it again". It's just gross and horrible and makes me feel so fucking helpless sometimes when a space is dominated with shitties like that.

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 48 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

100%.

It's nothing short of support for the behavior. Its why I constantly comment of Lemmy.world being trash, and why I say 196 mods are garbage and don't belong on blahaj, long live !onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone.

Even suggesting that sort of vile nonsense is worth discussing/voting on makes them bigoted morons.

Edit: Sorry I sound cranky about it, but this "tEaCh tHe CoNtRoVeRsY" garbage puts me in a cranky mood.

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Agreed, fuck 'em.

If the users of feddit.uk want to engage with us, they're totally welcome to do so on our terms by making an account somewhere that holds their users to a better standard. I hope they do. As far as I'm concerned, the users are cool, but we don't have to coddle somebody else's bigotry or put up with hatred.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 40 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"we want to make sure we comply with the law"

on here?

...Christ, why? lmao

They must think they're the main character of lemmy or someshit.

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 2 weeks ago

Just as bad as Lemmy.world with their admins being totally pro lawyers who just haven't taken the bar, they'd totally pass though.

Maybe worse, we'll see.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 38 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

"meh, those things sound like work"

-- feddit.uk admin

[–] dumblederp@aussie.zone 33 points 2 weeks ago

They had the time to make a new rule about no generative AI content but couldn't work this out? Stuff em.

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[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 91 points 2 weeks ago

You kick ass Ada. Thanks for all you do.

[–] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 87 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

I'm not a blåhaj user, but I really hope the feddit.uk mindset on this doesn't spread to other instances.

Why do divisive people have to care so much about letting people do what they want if it doesn't affect them? What someone wants to do with their body does NOT affect you, but your open derogatory statements about them DOES affect them!

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 34 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This has always been my stance. If it doesn't affect me, then I am always on the side of people's rights. Automatically. Even if it does affect me, I'm still more likely to be in favor of people's rights. Especially if the people in question are losing rights. I simply don't understand people who think loss of rights stops at people they don't like. It just doesn't work that way. A loss of ANY right against ANYONE is a personal loss of rights.

For instance, I'm not LGBTQ+. But I will fight like hell for their rights. Not just because it's the right thing to do, but because I know what happens when the LGBTQ+ people are gone. These are innocent people who just want to live their life and are under constant threat from physical and legal harm. The fact that Christians get so up in arms about even seeing two men kiss, or holding hands pisses me off on a level I can't describe. Especially when you consider the huge proportion of child molestation in the church. And it is very common that that child molestation was against a child of the same sex as the adult.

I'm not saying there's a causation there, but there's definitely correlation. And that correlation isn't homosexuality of the abuser. The correlation is power. Teaching, clergy, Hollywood, right wing, left wing, it happens on both sides, on all levels, and of moderates as well. But the one thing that always unifies EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. is power. 100%, every single time.

However, Republicans tend to have power/Dom fantasies at a FAR higher rate than Democrats. And again, I'm not saying that's a causation, but it is a correlation.

Power fantasies are insanely dangerous, even if the person is a "lowly" cook. It's potentially civilization ending if the person has the power of the US military. And I've yet to ever hear a Democrat fantasize about being president. Honestly even thinking about it... Fuck that. I can't handle that kind of responsibility. But I guess if trump "can" do it, then I could as well.

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[–] jac@lemmy.blahaj.zone 83 points 2 weeks ago

As a denizen of terf island myself, all I can say is; fucking good! Our enemies hide behind statements like "just asking questions", but there's no room for debate when it comes to people's rights and look where that thinking has gotten us.

The time for debate is over. I want my rights back.

[–] SuperNovaStar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 68 points 2 weeks ago

Unfortunate that you had to do that, but it sounds to me like you make the right call. Keep being great 💖🤍🩵

[–] jan_Melisa055@lemmy.blahaj.zone 65 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Of course it had to be feddit.uk

[–] ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zone 76 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They don't call it TERF Island for nothing.

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[–] SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 64 points 2 weeks ago

Blahaj user and former Brit here ... well done Ada for consistency and transparency regarding this.

The whole "let it play out" attitude really says it all, it shows cowardice and a lack of leadership ... kind of like the current prime minister.

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 57 points 2 weeks ago

Another non-blahaj here to say FUCK YEAH, Ada.

Deplatforming works. Demanding civility from people under attack by disingenuous, insincere "intellectuals" is so much more than just tone policing; it's direct enablement of disenfranchisement and allowing the spread of harm.

It's easy to be bad. It's hard to be good. When bad people are allowed to express their evil ideologies, it is much easier for people to pick up the evil than for the righteous to defend the good.

We cannot be tolerant of intolerance.

So, again, FUCK YEAH, Ada. You rock for protecting your users AND the rest of the world by contributing to the deplatforming of bigots.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 53 points 2 weeks ago

hard mode: uk stop being transphobic for two seconds.

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 51 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

What's "adult human female" referring to? Asking so I can keep an eye out for this in the future

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 82 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's a transphobic dog whistle. Popularised by UK transphobes. The implication is that trans women aren't women, and when you see it used, that's what they're really saying.

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 43 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks Ada. It's exhausting (emotionally and spiritually) to try to keep up with the ways in which people express their hate for us, but it's certainly essential for keeping ourselves safe, so I'm thankful to have learned something new.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 47 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

Adult human female is a dog whistle used by TERFs (and transphobes more broadly) to make it clear that they are specifically excluding trans women from the definition of womanhood; that is, it’s shorthand for saying that ‘adult human females’ are the only category of person that can be called a woman.

[–] fartsparkles@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

As a Brit myself, it saddens me how much hate is leeching from my country - especially towards minorities.

Thank you to the mods for making this community open so that people like me can lurk and learn to be better, while simultaneously protecting the people who depend on and need this safe space. Defederating was the right choice.

I won’t pretend I’m well versed in trans issues and struggles - I’m a cishet guy with no real skin in the game but I want to be an ally.

If anyone has good resources for someone like me to read so I can be better armed to refute and educate others who are being hateful, please let me know. The surge in hate after the recent Supreme Court ruling here in the UK has made it painfully clear being passive on the sidelines isn’t acceptable.

Huge apologies in advance if I’ve phrased anything hurtfully. I just want to learn.

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[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 50 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's fair.

People like that will say "just block them" with one fork of their tongue, and then "sort it out through discussion and voting" with the other fork.

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[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 46 points 2 weeks ago

Based Blåhaj admin is based.

[–] anzo@programming.dev 42 points 2 weeks ago

Terf island strikes again!

[–] 2hundredpancakes@lemmy.blahaj.zone 41 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Thanks for doing what you do.

It's ridiculous we are still having to deal with this in 2025. Just yesterday I had to see someone using the tslur as a "joke" under a .world post. Mods removed it. It's not hard to be decent, although some people decide to make it look like an impossible task. As far as I'm concerned, hate speech is not free speech...

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[–] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.blahaj.zone 39 points 2 weeks ago

If instances aren't willing to moderate themselves when it comes to transphobia they should get the boot. I hope more instances defederate feddit.uk over this. Might make them change course and rethink if they should maybe moderate better.

[–] ploot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I appreciate this move. The nice thing about the Fediverse is that admins can take a step like this to protect the integrity of this instance, and users can still engage with that stuff if they create an account on another instance. I'll continue to argue with bigots elsewhere but I'm grateful for how the admins curate Blahaj Lemmy.

It's a shame how the UK seems to be heading backwards on human rights, and shameful how the UK government has decided to throw in with the bigots and embolden them.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 37 points 2 weeks ago

I'm coming from a small brazillian instance and we're also getting attacks on the brazillian trans community, on our case is the medical association, dictating that doctors couldn't treat trans kids.

I asked my admin to support you and to de federate them until they change their policy, hope other instances join too.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 36 points 2 weeks ago

Transphobia has no place on anything I use. I may not be one of the folks on your instance, but I still appreciate the good work.

[–] OctaviaMeowzly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 36 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ada trying not to slay challenge (Impossible)

[–] salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you for your hard work on making blahaj a great place for everyone!

[–] Lenny@lemmy.zip 32 points 2 weeks ago

Non-blahaj user weighing in

Well done 👏👏👏

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 31 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks Ada!

I hope the feddit.uk admins reconsider their approach to moderating transphobia, but in the mean time I appreciate your protective stance. 💗

[–] Zizzy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 31 points 2 weeks ago

Common Ada W

Thank you for taking real direct action on issues like this. It keeps our community safe.

[–] Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 2 weeks ago

Stay classy, TERF Island.

[–] Smorty@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 2 weeks ago

thank u adaaaaa! luv u!

[–] trannus_aran@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you for keeping this community safe, I know this is never an easy decision and the job of moderating is often thankless 🫂 I really appreciate it

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