Community Guidelines

While we don’t have to all agree on everything, we need to agree on certain community guidelines in order to create a safe and generative space for all of our members. By agreeing to the community guidelines below, we are agreeing to enter the space in good faith and for the collective healing and cause. 

Discrimination and hate

The following things will absolutely never be tolerated: 

  • Genocide denial (or genocide minimizing), including any tactics that aim to minimize a genocide or atrocity, such as “what-about-ism” in a conversation

  • Racism, white supremacy, or nationalism (including anything Islamophobic, anti-Roma, anti-Semitic, etc.)

  • Perpetuation of Western imperialism and colonialism (including denial of Indigenous sovereignty)

  • Perpetuation of the cis-hetero-patriarchy (including transphobia, violence against women and femme folks, perpetuation of rape culture/sexual violence, policing of gender identity, explicit refusal to respect pronouns) 

  • Lateral violence and/or intra-community violence (e.g. transphobia from cis queer people)

  • Identity policing (saying someone is “not queer enough,” that they can’t belong to a certain ethnic or cultural group, aren’t “Balkan enough”) 

  • Forcing narratives or stories on people that are not their own (pressure to have to be out to family, pressure to reject religion because they are queer OR to be a certain way because they are religious, pressure to have to present a certain way)

Accountability and growth 

We recognize that we all swim in the water of white supremacy, colonialism, cis-hetero-patriarchy, etc. We have all been raised with harmful ideas and at times, these biases will emerge. Anything listed above under discrimination and hate may arise. Assuming that it was not with harmful intent and that everyone involved is open to learning and taking accountability, we will always support growth over the ejection of people from community. We strive to create an environment where learning (and unlearning), accountability, and community care are practiced and supported. 

Contribution and co-struggle

Everybody will have different capacities and different skills to contribute. We ask that collective members contribute what they can to the collective (no matter how small). We believe in collective power, community care, and mutual aid. When those who are able to contribute do, we are able to support and carry all of our members. You are also agreeing to the value of co-struggle; that is, our struggle is interconnected to the struggles of all oppressed peoples around the globe, including other colonized and queer folks.