20 years ago, I was a moderator on a LOTR forum that included fanfic, fanart, and roleplaying. It banned all LBGTQ characters, content, and discussion because they were not "family friendly."
No hand-holding or kisses between characters of the same gender in fanart or fic. That was "sexually explicit," while it was perfectly fine to write shippy Aragorn/Arwen stuff or to roleplay a pair of Dwarves eloping. (But not horse girls of Rohan). There was a forum function that let characters be forum-married, but NOT if the players or characters identified as the same gender. (Nonbinary? Genderfluid? What's that? Never heard of it.) Not a whisper of discussion of Legolas/Gimli or Sam/Frodo or any Silmarillion ship.
I pushed back hard in the admins' private forum, saying that there were gay teenagers. I said members like me resented the fact that our very existence was not deemed "family friendly. " We were part of the community, too. That the double standard of what was called "sexually explicit" was ridiculous.
My fellow admins honestly were progressive folks and sympathized, and a few were good friends, but they said they just couldn't take the legal risk. There were still anti-gay laws on the books in many states, and it was a US-hosted site.
Since our forums allowed teens age 13 and up to participate, we had to stick to what was acceptable in mainstream US society and not push boundaries. In the name of inclusivity, we had to make sure we followed standards that would allow all teens to be able to participate in Tolkien lore discussions and fandom, since that was the site's purpose. We couldn't afford to be slapped by a lawsuit or have authorities sent after us by outraged parents.
Never mind that the vast majority of our 50,000+ members were, much like Tumblr, grown-ass adults. (No swearing, either)
This was one of the biggest LOTR websites during the heyday of the Jackson films.
Imagine NO GAY CONTENT ALLOWED WHATSOEVER AND QUEER FOLK CAN'T BE OUT IN PUBLIC in, say, the Marvel fandom when Winter Soldier came out.
Livejournal was one of the few places that allowed it, and it was constantly under siege by "concerned" groups getting communities wiped out by the dozens. Including RL survivor support groups of various kinds of abuse, because they mentioned forbidden topics.
That was the environment under which AO3 was founded 2 years later. A place where we could archive our stuff for the audience it served, tag it with what it was, and readers could use tags to make their own decisions about what content they wanted to read or not, instead of having others decide for them.
But as my fellow admins said, online censorship reflected the world we lived in, and vice versa.
LBGTQ+ = indecent = inappropriate to be out in public. We'd be attacked for holding hands, because think of the children.
It It still is that way for trans people in many places. Evangelicals ban porn (which they themselves probably watch), and then they expand the definition of porn to include... people. It's already happened in some states. In others, laws were never taken off the books.
it may be from the 1800s, but by golly, they'll dig it up.
So um. You know that 5calls app/site? Might want to call reps this week and remind them you're paying attention to their bullshit. (you can call at night and leave a message if you don't want to talk to a human; staff generally just tally calls FOR and AGAINST specific issues)
prguitarman
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
