Good morning! ☀️

Today’s newsletter will be a bit different. Last week, our newsletter featured numerous topics, one of which shared information about trans athletes. You can find last week’s newsletter HERE.

Soon after the newsletter was sent out, we received an email from a subscriber that the newsletter’s part on trans female athletes was reinforcing stereotypes and was harmful to the trans community. The person asked for revisions. After asking our subscriber for some more information, the response was that the views and information shared were innately transphobic and that there was no room for discussion or further conversation.

After receiving this email, we reached out to a popular social media channel, sharing our newsletter’s content, and asking whether the post was harmful or stereotypical and how we can have safe and constructive conversations around these difficult and sensitive topics.

We received a flood of responses that fell into two camps: One side agreed that the post was harmful, that there was no room for these questions/conversations, and reiterated that this kind of information and these viewpoints are inherently transphobic. One person threatened to report us to the social work board, and another messaged us directly stating that there was “internalized transphobia” that must “be checked”.

On the other side, people shared that there was nothing wrong with sharing this kind of information and data and having these conversations. One person even messaged us privately to share this viewpoint, mentioning that they were afraid to voice their opinion around others.

It is clear that the two sides approached this from very different perspectives. On one hand, the trans community saw this as innately biased; They felt unsafe in the very concept of having these discussions. The other side saw these difficult discussions as important and necessary and could not understand why there was this sort of backlash.

This was a very emotional conversation for everyone involved. Everyone is entitled to feel what they feel. We do not want to invalidate anyone’s lived experiences, emotions, or beliefs. And we are not trying to convert anyone to another perspective or viewpoint.

However, the point of this newsletter is to get you out of your own bubble.

The newsletter was created to bring up different perspectives. These kinds of conversations are happening and will continue to happen throughout our society. The goal is to create a space where you can hear different sides and perspectives. Again, this doesn’t mean that you have to agree with every perspective. That won’t happen.

As such, we will continue to move forward with our newsletter in the following ways:

1. We will continue to be mindful of the information that we share. If it features a marginalized community, we will ensure that the perspectives of that community are represented and included adequately.

2. We will continue to post different viewpoints and will continue to facilitate conversations and ask difficult, yet important questions. We don’t believe in cancel culture as we believe that this harms everyone.

The subscriber we mentioned unfortunately decided to unsubscribe from our newsletter. That’s unfortunate because what we share here will make you uncomfortable at times; That’s the reality behind hearing different viewpoints.

Furthermore, we recognize that we have biases. Unfortunately, every single person on this Earth brings with them their own biases. We will continue to improve and learn from our readers and the feedback they provide.

We will be back to our regular scheduling next Sunday.

P.S. Make sure that the newsletter is hitting your inbox and not your spam/junk mail. If you need help on how to do this, you can reference this article.