=> Sensible places ban people who say being gay or LGBTQ is mental health issue.
I don't agree. Perhaps the person who says being gay is a mental health issue has a deep knowledge of a technical subject that is of interest to the community, and 80% of their posts are about that subject, and very informative, while only 5% of their comments are about being gay as a mental health issue. Banning such an account outright would deprive the community of the 80% of comments from that account that are informative and useful. If they're not banned, the 5% of the comments that the community finds problematic will be downvoted most of the time. This is a more measured and better targeted reaction than an outright ban.
If someone is on a crusade to convince everyone that gay people are sick, on the other hand, and all their posts are about that, then that's a different matter. Such an account is not really contributing anything useful to a community like HN. So ban away, I guess.
There's another reason. As an LGBT person myself, I want to hear opinions that are hostile towards me, even against my very existence. I want to hear them because if I don't, I won't be aware of all the awful things that people make up in their minds about people like me and I won't know how to protect myself against them. Of course I already know many of the awful things that people think and say and do, but having those opinions out in the open where everybody can see them also acts as a barometer for popular opinion. If everybody starts agreeing with the person who says gay people are mentally ill, then I know things are turning bad. If everyone challenges such opinions, and I can see that they are downvoted to [dead], then I know that at least this community is not uniformly hostile.
Last, if someone really thinks that people like me are sick or shouldn't exist, what's the point of banning them? That won't change their opinion. We can't change peoples' minds forcefully, and even if we could, we shouldn't. Freedom of thought means that some people will think thoughts everyone else finds despiceable. So be it. If we only accept some views in public discussions and ban all the rest what happens when the political winds change and it's my thoughts and opinions that are not kosher anymore?
I feel you're really underestimating the extent to which being visibly trans is a barrier in finding dignified employment. Perhaps the most maddening thing is that people don't hire you not because they, themselves, have anything against visibly trans people, rather it's because they are afraid of what others might think. And yet, even as everyone knows very well what "people might say", it is at the same time extremely difficult to covince cis people (i.e. not trans) that being visibly trans is an important factor in being out of work. It's a cruel catch-22 situation. The same people who would never hire you because you look visibly trans would never accept that you have trouble finding work because you look visibly trans.
I'm guessing that the OP ommitted any information about being trans from their original post above either because they expected that people would either think the OP was playing the victim card or they would just think there's some other reason, that has nothing to do with being trans, that the OP can't find decent work.
But I'm inclined to believe that this is, in fact, the primary reason. That's from my own experience and that of my many trans friends.
To the OP- just hang in there, please. Things will get better. And don't go back to the UK. It's now a fascist, racist little shithole with a majority that delights in crushing vulnerable people.
I don't agree. Perhaps the person who says being gay is a mental health issue has a deep knowledge of a technical subject that is of interest to the community, and 80% of their posts are about that subject, and very informative, while only 5% of their comments are about being gay as a mental health issue. Banning such an account outright would deprive the community of the 80% of comments from that account that are informative and useful. If they're not banned, the 5% of the comments that the community finds problematic will be downvoted most of the time. This is a more measured and better targeted reaction than an outright ban.
If someone is on a crusade to convince everyone that gay people are sick, on the other hand, and all their posts are about that, then that's a different matter. Such an account is not really contributing anything useful to a community like HN. So ban away, I guess.
There's another reason. As an LGBT person myself, I want to hear opinions that are hostile towards me, even against my very existence. I want to hear them because if I don't, I won't be aware of all the awful things that people make up in their minds about people like me and I won't know how to protect myself against them. Of course I already know many of the awful things that people think and say and do, but having those opinions out in the open where everybody can see them also acts as a barometer for popular opinion. If everybody starts agreeing with the person who says gay people are mentally ill, then I know things are turning bad. If everyone challenges such opinions, and I can see that they are downvoted to [dead], then I know that at least this community is not uniformly hostile.
Last, if someone really thinks that people like me are sick or shouldn't exist, what's the point of banning them? That won't change their opinion. We can't change peoples' minds forcefully, and even if we could, we shouldn't. Freedom of thought means that some people will think thoughts everyone else finds despiceable. So be it. If we only accept some views in public discussions and ban all the rest what happens when the political winds change and it's my thoughts and opinions that are not kosher anymore?