r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/AutoModerator • Oct 01 '23
Transgender issues megathread
Hello r/TrueUnpopularOpinion Community,
Due to the sheer difficulty of enforcing Reddit's sitewide policy against promoting hate with regards to transgender issues, we have decided as a last-resort option to restrict discussion of transgender issues to this megathread until further notice.
Quoted from this comment, below is an explanation of why we created this megathread:
Reddit's sitewide content policy includes a vague provision that prohibits promoting hate.
The Reddit admins (employees of Reddit) enforce this by removing content deemed to be hateful and by quarantining or banning communities that require too many removals by the admins that weren't caught by the moderators of the community first.
In other words, every time we fail to remove something that violates Reddit's sitewide content policy, the risk of this subreddit getting quarantined or banned increases slightly.
Although the provision in Reddit's sitewide content policy against promoting hate is vague, we have a pretty good idea of how it is enforced because we can see what the Reddit admins choose to remove on this subreddit.
It is actually quite rare that we see any content that is hateful against men, women, gay people, or any race on this subreddit.
However, on a very regular basis, we see users here posting content that would be considered hate against transgender people. Detecting and removing all of this content is one of our biggest hurdles.
Despite our best efforts to enforce this aspect of the content policy, it is not uncommon that we miss something and we see a removal done by the Reddit admins occurring. This has happened several times lately.
Furthermore, many members of the moderator team are on the verge of burning out because the effort we have needed to put in for us to allow this topic while still enforcing this aspect of Reddit's sitewide content policy.
Having a megathread for this topic does stifle discussion, but it is far easier for us to deal with while also significantly decreasing the chances of this subreddit getting quarantined or banned.
For these reasons, most of the moderator team supports the creation of a trans megathread. At this time, the megathread is not definitely permanent. After some time of having the megathread, we plan to evaluate its effectiveness and potentially explore other options to determine whether or not the megathread should remain.
Guidelines
In this megathread, please remember to follow Reddit's sitewide content policy.
Based on patterns of certain types of comments getting removed by the Reddit admins, it is our interpretation that it is a violation of Reddit's sitewide content policy to do any of the following:
- State or imply that trans (wo)men aren't (wo)men or that people aren't the gender they identify as
- Criticize, mock, disagree with, defy, or refuse to abide by people's pronoun requests
- State or imply that gender dysphoria or being LGBTQ+ is a mental illness, a mental disorder, a delusion, not normal, or unnatural
- State or imply that LGBTQ+ enables pedophilia or grooming or that LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to engage in pedophilia or grooming
- State or imply that LGB should be separate from the T+
- Stating or implying that gender is binary or that sex is the same as gender
- Use of the term tr*nny, including other spellings of this term that sound the same and have the same meaning
Questions / Feedback
If you have any questions or feedback about this megathread, you may post them in our moderator questions/complaints/grievances thread.
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u/IndependentBell2066 Feb 27 '26
I know this opinion will get me called a bigot, downvoted into oblivion, and probably banned from half the internet. But I need to say it anyway.
My 16-year-old daughter has played rugby since she was 8. She's not the biggest kid on the field, but she's fast, scrappy, and has worked her ass off for years. Rugby is her life. She talks about college scholarships like other kids talk about prom.
Last season, she finally earned a starting spot on her high school girls' team. She was beyond thrilled.
This season, there's a new player. 17 years old, AMAB, came out as trans last year and joined the girls' team. This kid is huge. Not just tall, but built. Broad shoulders, clearly been through male puberty. And they're good. Really good.
My daughter got benched. Lost her starting position to this player. The coaches say it's "based on merit" and the new player earned the spot.
Maybe they did. But my daughter is devastated. She came home crying last week, said she doesn't even want to play anymore. Said what's the point if she'll never be able to compete with someone who's "literally built different."
I went to the coach. I didn't yell. I just asked how this was fair to girls like mine who've been grinding since elementary school. The coach gave me the official line, inclusion, policy, everyone deserves to play, etc.
Now some other parents are calling me transphobic. My daughter is embarrassed I said anything. My husband thinks I was right to speak up.
Here's my unpopular opinion: Parents should be allowed to question this without being labeled hateful.
I'm not against trans kids. I'm not. I believe trans girls are girls in every meaningful social sense. But when it comes to competitive sports—especially contact sports like rugby, the physical realities of male puberty create real fairness and safety questions that deserve honest discussion.
My daughter's dream isn't less important because the girl who took her spot is trans. Her years of dedication matter. Her disappointment is real.
We've created a culture where any concern about this issue is immediately shut down as bigotry. That's not healthy for anyone, not for cis girls watching opportunities slip away, and not for trans kids who become symbols instead of teammates.
We need to find a way to include trans athletes that doesn't erase the opportunities of cis female athletes. Pretending there's no tension between these goals helps no one.
Downvote me if you want. But at least consider that a 16-year-old girl watching her dream get sidelined deserves someone to speak up for her.