Community "Pride"?

Since posting about my experience with the Pink Sofa I have had some interesting conversations about the nature of the gay community. While people have been outraged on my behalf by the way I have been treated by the Sofa administration, and supportive of my quest to get some answers, there have also been a large number of people who have said they are not particularly surprised.

Like in any small community, particularly one made up of people who for years have been marginalised or targets of abuse and bullying because of who they are, fairness and fair-mindedness are not a given, sadly.  While adversity and/or similarities can draw people together, they can also cause division - one personality clash can drive a whole group apart; one personal vendetta can be incredibly divisive. 

I've experienced similar things in the vegan community.  (Yes, I'm a stereotype - a short-haired vegan feminist lesbian!)  When I first went vegan I lived in the UK, and not knowing any other vegans I joined an online forum.  An innocent aside one day about running the Relay for Life, in memory of my granddad who had recently died from cancer, brought the wrath of the vegangelists down upon me. How could I call myself a vegan and yet support a charity that gave money to evil, animal-testing laboratories? Now, whether that point was right or wrong (and veganism has many shades of grey (not like that!) despite what its more extreme proponents might tell you), surely a vegan forum is the place a new vegan should be able to expect support, friendship and guidance, rather than vitriol and finger-pointing?

The dark side of the Pink Sofa

Pink Sofa is a lesbian networking site which is partly an online dating service, but also much more.  One of the features is called "Chit Chat", which is like a mini Facebook where members post statuses or comments that others can then reply to in thread form. The site is international but Chit Chat seems to be primarily used by Australians, New Zealanders and Brits, with a sprinkling of Americans for good measure.  The site is registered in and operated from South Australia.

Let me start by saying I love Pink Sofa. When I was in the depths of my despondency in 2013, figuring out who the hell I was, Pink Sofa was my refuge.  It helped me realise that yes, I was gay, and no, that wasn't a crime, and yes, lots of other women with husbands and child/ren have been and were going through the same things I was going through.  I made some amazing and supportive new friends, some of whom I also met in "real life", and I felt like I had found a safe haven to help me through my "journey" (god it's hard to write about this stuff without sounding like a lame cliché!)

So when they terminated my membership and refused me any further access to the site, it was a huge and devastating shock.

If you've read my post about the Chip Bag Incident from my childhood, you'll know that one of the things that just kills me is being unjustly accused of wrongdoing. So the fact that Pink Sofa has terminated my membership for some supposed breach of its terms and conditions or code of ethics but wont tell me which one or how I breached it makes me a very ugly combination of furious and miserable.  I have cried more than I care to admit.  I have spent long walks on the beach with the dog planning how I could march into the Pink Sofa office and refuse to leave until I get an apology and my membership reinstated.  I have lost sleep. And I'm not going to stop pursing justice.

Let me take you back a few steps...