This is an informal letter from one community to another. It is not a staff-borne effort of diplomacy, nor an official public statement.
It is written by LGBT/queer members of SCP-ES, having seen a great deal of serious accusations being directed toward our community and staff, often repeated without proper rigor as to verification.
Setting all discussion regarding translation policies aside, we wish to clarify that:
- SCP-ES is not a LGBTphobic community;
Being openly LGBT+ on the Internet is tough. We’ve unfortunately all experienced this to some degree, so it is only understandable that we’re quick to take arms when we see the enemies of our identity rear their heads - and perhaps, a little too quick.
SCP-ES, as a community and as a site, does not discriminate toward LGBT+ members. All of us have had the opportunity to freely express our identities and share some of the kindest experiences of our lives among equals.
Some of us have spent years of our lives dedicating great amounts of our time to contributing and interacting with this community, and it would simply not have been possible without the love and acceptance we keep giving and receiving. SCP-ES could not have flourished (content and translation-wise) without its LGBT+ userbase, as we could have not flourished (creativity and personality-wise) without SCP-ES. Had we faced hate here as we did elsewhere, most of us would’ve left long ago. Perhaps we would have been forever set back in our self-discovery without the safe space it has provided.
- SCP-ES staff are not LGBTphobic;
A friendly community can rarely come to be without a friendly direction, and for that we have to thank our staff, some of whom have agreed to sign this letter.
SCP-ES is a uniquely tight-knit community with not too many active people at once, which has given us the rare opportunity to share long years of friendship between members and staff. This cohesion has only come to greater light in recent times, finding ourselves in even closer quarters and even greater desire to do the best for our community and site.
We can attest – each of us that aren’t staff – that throughout the years we have seen nothing but good will between us, individual differences aside. Most staff will attest for themselves that they are also LGBT+ and share the same pains and joys of this with us.
- and there is no LGBTphobic intent behind ES’s translation policies.
SCP-ES has somewhat stringent policies with regards to CSS style, both in original work and translations, that do not extend exclusively to pride logos. Black Highlighter and the Anomaly Classification System, the former being prohibited site-wide and the latter excluded from translations, are proof of this. Regardless of personal opinions, this is clear proof that such policies do not seek to target the LGBT+ identity - they are merely a form of standardization.
In fact, there are plenty of examples of not just pride logos, but also queer art, found across our content, both translation and original. Some instances are:
- SCP-6113, which is centered around the topic of transition and transness;
- SCP-6354, whose plot revolves around a lesbian couple;
- SCP-ES-222, the last works by a lesbian anartist in times of Spanish francoism (fascism);
- Ventanas a Otro Mundo, which contains a story about a gay Chaos Insurgent finding brief reprieve in the eyes of another;
- and Amai-Ixchel’s Gallery, in which you can see a humorous example of a bi logo.
It is also a tradition for some members to add pride logos to their own articles to celebrate pride in June, as can be seen in the source codes for Revision 31 of SCP-ES-265 and Revision 9 of SCP-ES-146.
Some of you may already know how the policy works, but for those who don’t: translations are standardized, while original work is up to the author. Standardization responds to a simple criteria: relevancy to the contents of the article, which is exemplified in the two translations linked above. Independently of whether we agree with the policy itself (and there are differences on what we believe is better), it does not respond to distasteful political opinions.
No staff member or translator seeks to undermine queer identities - and the opposite can be demonstrated. SCP-3101 is a great example of the pains translators will go through to preserve queer themes. In the original work, the gender of the anomaly is obscured by avoiding their pronouns, which while easy in English, is quite the challenge for Spanish, which has gendered nouns and verbs. The original intent was preserved by black-boxing gendered portions of words, for instance:
SCP-3101: I'm stuck in this black space and I don't know how long I've been here
Would normally translate to
SCP-3101: estoy atrapada/o en este espacio negro y no sé cuánto tiempo he estado aquí
But was done as
SCP-3101: estoy atrapad█ en este espacio negro y no sé cuánto tiempo he estado aquí
These things may not be new at all to you, fail to convince you as to the fairness of the policy, or you may still consider that there is internalised LGBTphobia at hand. Convincing you of these things is not our goal: we seek only to dispel generalized assumptions of bad faith, and counter the various accusations that either our entire community is bigoted, or our staff is.
This should not be the torching and repudiation of a hateful community. This should be a discussion in level ground, between two queer-friendly communities with only the best intentions at heart and only unfortunate cultural and linguistic differences between us.
Please, please, hold yourselves to some rigor before spreading horrible accusations about us. Much, though not all, of what we’ve seen discussed in off-site spaces were takes clearly brought forth by widespread ignorance of what we are like, what our community is like, and what our content is like, without ever bothering to reach out or consult the views we hold, as queer members of SCP-ES.
Once again, we understand the disagreement, and we do not expect to change your views on this matter. We only hope to temper spirits and wind down the discussion to where it should have always been: as a debate between equals.
Signed By:
Luis Gm
LazyLasagne
Amai-Ixchel
Agente Shuffle
Extasis
Eduteck
Índigo
Nihonio
OniricShogunSoldier
