[the-cask]

Ghost said Trans Rights!

TF said so himself. Ghost is for all races, identities, orientations, etc. You should not be interacting with the fandom if you are discriminatory in any way. 

There should be no excuses. 

Do not support /ghostbandzine, /blanchebees, /gasolineghuleh, and those who support them.

“They weren’t like that with me!” “They’re a good friend of mine!” Yea, with YOU. But there’s evidence of how they’ve treated others. You don’t really know how a person is behind closed doors.

“I’m trans so it can’t be transphobic.” Uh, you can be trans and STILL be transphobic. There are many trans identies. What might not be harmful to you, is harmful to others.

“This was months ago, why bring it up now?” As others have stated, they still have not apologized to the people they’ve hurt. And no, a public apology doesn’t count, especially when they’re just apologizing for getting caught. 

“But they’re such a good artist/writer!” Talent should not be put above safety.

Look, nobody is perfect. We all have things to unlearn. But when someone reacts negatively when their behavior is called out, that should be a fuckin red flag. Especially if they just swept it under the rug and moved on like nothing happened.

And no, language and culture is not an excuse. Minorities do not have the responsibility to educate. And if they do explain, the only thing you should be doing is listening and changing. Futher educate yourself. You do not get to decide that you didn’t do/say anything harmful to someone you hurt.

Sorry if this is all jumbled and out of focus, but damnit this pisses me off!!

- Hell Flower

[the-cask]

There are some people who have asked for evidence of what’s stated up above. We’re happy to do that: 

Document on Lorraine and friends

Document on Blanchebees

Honey (bandzine organizer) ignoring trans voices: Exhibit A Exhibit B

[the-cask]

i knew about gasolineghuleh but i didn’t know about blanchebees, is that something new or did they have a different username before?

I added a few links to my previous post. Just bare in mind the warnings.

Link

[leighways]

Originally, I planned to apologize for this. I’ve typed and retyped the phrase “I really hate what I’m about to do” obsessively for the last twenty minutes before realizing that actually, the only thing I hate about this situation is that this is what it’s come to.

I’ve done my best over the course of the latter part of last year to say as little as possible in regard to the angry, bigoted bullshit that’s been thrown my way. I took it on the chin when I was told to stop drawing cartoons, and I attempted to turn an ableist outburst into something positive when I got scolded for seeing my ADHD traits in Papa III. But I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired. And I can’t stay quiet anymore.

So no, I’m not sorry for what I’m about to do. I’m just done. 

Under the cut is my response to the deluge of transphobic rhetoric I’ve had to endure at the behest of ppl I once thought of as friends.

Keep reading

[leighways]

I’m going to recirculate this warning bc Lorraine (@/gasolineghuleh) has been hired on as a mod for the Ghost Band Zine. It’s been about eight months since she and her friends publicly attacked, bullied, and sent me death / doxxing threats over my trans!Copia headcanon, so it’s fair to say that some newer fandom members don’t know the full story of her transphobia. The call out is linked under the cut above. Pls heed the content warnings at the top of the document before proceeding.

[the-cask]

Ghost said Trans Rights!

TF said so himself. Ghost is for all races, identities, orientations, etc. You should not be interacting with the fandom if you are discriminatory in any way. 

There should be no excuses. 

Do not support /ghostbandzine, /blanchebees, /gasolineghuleh, and those who support them.

“They weren’t like that with me!” “They’re a good friend of mine!” Yea, with YOU. But there’s evidence of how they’ve treated others. You don’t really know how a person is behind closed doors.

“I’m trans so it can’t be transphobic.” Uh, you can be trans and STILL be transphobic. There are many trans identies. What might not be harmful to you, is harmful to others.

“This was months ago, why bring it up now?” As others have stated, they still have not apologized to the people they’ve hurt. And no, a public apology doesn’t count, especially when they’re just apologizing for getting caught. 

“But they’re such a good artist/writer!” Talent should not be put above safety.

Look, nobody is perfect. We all have things to unlearn. But when someone reacts negatively when their behavior is called out, that should be a fuckin red flag. Especially if they just swept it under the rug and moved on like nothing happened.

And no, language and culture is not an excuse. Minorities do not have the responsibility to educate. And if they do explain, the only thing you should be doing is listening and changing. Futher educate yourself. You do not get to decide that you didn’t do/say anything harmful to someone you hurt.

Sorry if this is all jumbled and out of focus, but damnit this pisses me off!!

- Hell Flower

[ghostbandzine]

🖤 Moderator spotlight: @gasolineghuleh 🖤

I am willing to bet most of you have heard of Lorraine before! They’re very engaged with our community, as well as a truly amazing writer within our fandom. They will mostly be in charge of moderating the writing aspect of the zine :D

[captladypants]

Gonna post what I posted on my twitter but: 

So anyways, I had some red flags for this zine. This post confirms it and here is the doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10HUz0wxZTAnQ-xqCZRskPv_nZngvDH9Z89V9OQSd29o/edit… 

Lorraine and their friends mistreated friends of mine and still have not attempted to apologize.

Disappointed but not surprised

[captladypants]

Since they haven’t replied to this on tumblr as of yet here is a screen shot, this stinks of cowardice. It says loud and clear that they are more concerned for people who have shown shitty behavior rather than their victims. 

[captladypants]

hey to anyone who reblogs bullshit in the tags instead of responding: consider, they never apologized to the people they hurt. Instead they brushed it away as quick as they could. If this “makes people do bad shit”, they were not good people in the first place. 

[the-cask]

And so it seems that a couple have returned from the shadows...

[the-cask]

An f/o stands for “fictional other.” Some of us get attached to fictional characters, whether platonic, familial, romantic, etc. Some people share the same f/o. That’s fine. Some people do not like sharing their f/o. That’s also fine.

It is your choice if you decide to continue reading or not. 

Beware: n/sfw conversation ahead.

12/10/20 ---> (X) 

This may seem like nothing big, but it made me uncomfortable. Something I thought they had let go. They were mocking a mutual of mine. To my knowledge, Ryo didn’t know who they were referencing.

- Hell Flower

[the-cask]

Some of us are reluctant to believe that these people might change, especially gasolineghuleh/Lorraine and ghostsuckss/taylahrt/popiaswhitesuit/Taylah.

It didn’t surprise me how they treated their ex-friends and how they handled the situation. Because I’m a former member of that server and had witnessed a similar one. So, not their first rodeo.

--

Transphobia TW:

On October 30th, 2020, another former member had made a similar joke. Here is the doc --> (X)

--

It upset me and I wanted to confront them about it. They loved to claim that it was a safe place and that everyone should feel comfortable. I didn’t. I was afraid of speaking out, that it wouldn’t be handled respectfully as adults. Afraid of getting kicked. Even if they had kicked me, I was also afraid of getting blacklisted from the Ghost fandom. How can you claim to be a safe place if some of us were so afraid of saying something? I myself am a trans person and it felt like my opinion wouldn’t matter to them anyway.

I had hoped to never hear about this server ever again, yet here we are. 

Everyone wants to move on, but I felt the need to show this. This is just another example of their behavior. Inexcusable.

“Your skeletons are building, your closet's getting tight.”

- Hell Flower

[the-cask]

The Pedestal Can Be Dangerous

It’s so easy to put someone on a high pedestal and think of them as being flawless. This can be a negative mindset. It’s been done to celebrities, politicians, influencers, YouTubers, etc. 

This should be a reminder to fandom spaces as well. 

No one is above anyone else. No one is free of mistakes.

It can be easy to look up to an artist/writer/editor etc in a fandom and think they aren’t capable of fucking up. But the thing is that at the end of the day, they’re just like everyone else: human. And humans aren’t without flaws. 

It’s understandable from a fan’s perspective to assume someone can’t possibly be an asshole or express intolerant behavior. Especially if their interactions with others has been shown to be positive. So when it’s brought out to the light what’s been going on behind the scenes, it’s normal to jump in and protect the accused. “But they’re such a good person!” “I’ve talked to them and never had a problem.” “They never came off that way to me.” Lots of other words used. And very much understandable when the accused happens to be a friend! It’s natural to defend your friend. 

But when evidence is provided and others are speaking out or providing their own personal experiences, how can you only stand with one side of the story? 

This is why putting someone on a high pedestal can backfire. There’s no room for criticism, no room for discussion, people get afraid of speaking out, afraid of not being taken seriously. It can swell the accused’s ego thinking they can do what they want, not taking responsibility of their actions. 

Now of course, it’s our personal choice if we continue to interact with our faves, even if it’s been proven that they have exhibited questionable behavior. It’s easy to call a callout a witch hunt, but it’s not. It’s to signal a community if an injustice has been done. Because, again, it’s our personal choice whether or not we continue to interact. And if they happen to be your friend and tell you that they’re going to change, then please hold them accountable to that promise.

TL;DR: Stop putting people on pedestals. It makes those who have done an injustice get away with what they’ve done, and then repeating a pattern. 

- Hell Flower

[leighways]

Originally, I planned to apologize for this. I’ve typed and retyped the phrase “I really hate what I’m about to do” obsessively for the last twenty minutes before realizing that actually, the only thing I hate about this situation is that this is what it’s come to.

I’ve done my best over the course of the latter part of last year to say as little as possible in regard to the angry, bigoted bullshit that’s been thrown my way. I took it on the chin when I was told to stop drawing cartoons, and I attempted to turn an ableist outburst into something positive when I got scolded for seeing my ADHD traits in Papa III. But I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired. And I can’t stay quiet anymore.

So no, I’m not sorry for what I’m about to do. I’m just done. 

Under the cut is my response to the deluge of transphobic rhetoric I’ve had to endure at the behest of ppl I once thought of as friends.

Keep reading

[leighways]

Just so everyone is aware – in the time since this was posted, the owner of the transphobic sock puppet account has revealed themself. The google doc has been updated with their identity. 

[the-cask]

Let’s clear something up. 

Some people think that the girls of that discord server are cishet. The “het” part is incorrect. 

No one in that discord server (if it’s even still running) are straight. They are a variety of sexualities. 

That being said, understandable to go and question their despicable behavior and responses to the situation. Hate mail/talk, though, is never the answer. And neither are phobic insults. 

Was their behavior and responses transphobic and racist? Yes. 

Does that mean you can say phobic stuff to them/about them or send hate anons? No.

I am in no way defending their treatment to their ex friends, both past and present. Just that you can’t accuse someone of not being, for example, bi because they “aren’t bi enough.” That’s biphobic. 

- Hell Flower

[the-cask]

The Pattern Does Nothing But Repeat aka Groundhog Apologies

In light of the recent news in the ghost community...

So what y’all have to know is these girls are way sus.

The reason that there hasn’t been a giant outpouring of support for them is because they’ve been slashing and burning their way through people, burning bridges, and leaving a pile of bodies in their wake.

This isn’t their first, second, or third time being called out on their “ignorance” of trans issues or abelism.

Each time, they give a rote excuse or a piss-poor apology about learning and doing better next time in public, while in private they slink into DMs to lament how sensitive the injured party is being.

They don’t. Care.

If they did care, they’d actually learn and do better the next time. But every “next time” seems to function as the “first time” for them. They don’t care to do the work or to understand, and we’d be shocked if this time was different.

People have tried to educate them countless times for months, and yet they refuse to learn, instead choosing to defend their existing position. We are tired of repeatedly trying to correct bigoted behavior when Google is just a free click away.

This also isn’t the first time they’ve had sock-puppet accounts. This is just the first time they’ve publicly been caught at it.

They see themselves as the morally superior saviors of LGBTQIA issues, and they have no problems banding together to come up with silent and anonymous hate campaigns against users they think need to be taught a lesson.

(And it must be said that being a part of LGBTQIA community doesn't mean one is free of intolerant behavior.)

And they do not. Let go. Even after a user has apologized or received a “comeuppance.” They continue goading them like the bullies they are.

They are Mean Girls who don’t see any problem harassing people they think are in the wrong, which includes trans people, fic authors, and middle-aged fans.

We’re not here trying to stifle growth and learning in people. We’re here because what y’all don’t seem to know that this isn’t an isolated incident: it’s a pattern, and we’re fucking done with the lies, gaslighting, and manipulations.