Online hate and discrimination

‘I volunteer by doing the social media at a not-for-profit organisation that supports LGBTIQ+ young people.’

‘They were looking at raising funds for a youth project and I suggested that they pay for a social media campaign to reach a greater audience. We received positive comments but lots of negative comments too. Some of these negative comments were absolutely horrendous and used homophobic and transphobic abuse. It was really stressful for all our volunteers. Our solution was to actively remove a significant number of these comments, we took screenshots of the evidence, reported them to the platform and blocked them. We wanted to avoid engaging with the abusers because we thought this would make things worse.’ – Nico*

‘Working in media and communication, I have learned that it is generally the boosted posts – the ones we pay for to reach out to wider audiences – that receive online hate comments.’

‘For instance, any post to support the trans community gets bombarded with hateful comments. We had to set up content moderation for any comments published on Facebook, we also blocked keywords from appearing and applied some filters. If we use Instagram to promote any campaigns, we activate “limits” in the privacy settings to automatically hide comments and DM requests from people who don’t follow us. This has been a really helpful way to screen out online hate.’ – Elizabeth*

Biphobia

‘I am proud Aboriginal bi+ woman, but I sometimes experience online hate from lesbians who don’t understand or accept my sexuality.’

‘They send me messages like “you are a closet lesbian”, “you are masquerading as straight but really you are gay”, or “you’re just experimenting”. These messages have come from former partners and from other members of the community. I resist the urge to answer because I don’t want to argue with people who don’t get me.’ – Kirra*

Racism and religious discrimination

‘One might hope that there is no way the LGBTIQ+ community could be racist, especially considering all the discrimination that we experience as a community.’

‘But this is not the case, I am constantly dealing with racist comments on my social media like, “Are you a terrorist?” or “Your religion wants us dead”. I have also witnessed racism against other communities. Comments like “Learn how to write in English first”, and “You have no right to have an opinion because you weren’t born here”. I have called out this behaviour whenever I can. I’ve been called a drama queen, someone even told me to stop being so hypersensitive, but it hasn’t stopped me trying to call it out. Being racist is not OK.’ – Ghassan*

Transphobia

‘Cis gay and lesbian populations are enjoying hard fought rights that trans people are currently fighting for.’

‘I have been excluded from women’s apps and groups because they only admit “real women”, but I am a real woman. If I defend myself as a trans person in a post, I get told that I just want attention and that I’m really a man. It’s painful and embarrassing to have to deal with all the hateful comments. What’s worse is that some of these comments come from within the LGBTIQ+ community. I have taken screenshots, reported them to the platform and blocked them. I have also changed my social media privacy settings to ensure that I only connect with people I know – doing this has given me peace of mind.’ – Sarah*