Why I stand behind my stance

I do not agree that watching what we say and/or how we say it is bowing down to the antis or silencing our voices. Right now, it's a struggle for us to remain online sometimes with all of the lies the antis spread about us. Yes, they will lie about us or twist our words way out of context mo matter what we say. But should we make it easy for them? Should we make silly humorous comments with a tinge of irony that make it appear that we are every bit as bad as our enemies claim we are? In my opinion, acting like the equivalent of college students in the film "House Party" on a public board is doing our community a disservice. Right now, our public conduct needs to be near-impeccable. We cannot afford to make disrespectful comments about youths in our AoA or give antis the opportunity to provide "evidence" that we are breaking the rules here and conducting illegal activity on this board.

At one point, GC nearly went offline because our upstream provider was told that we were conducting illegal activity here. People who make comments like the ones Hierophant and Kratt made only make us look like a bunch of perverts to the general public or make it seem like we are catering to GLer's at the expense of how the public views us. We are NOT simply serving the needs of GLer's with this board. I TOTALLY disagree with that. We are presenting ourselves to the public, and presenting an image to the public in the meantime. Because of the current climate of lies and misinformation, we have to go out of our way to provide a good image. I don't agree that BC does a better job of serving BLer's than GC does of serving GLer's; I think our better behavior on this board makes us classier and gives the antis less opportunities to lie about us and quote us out of context. I don't think it's too great a sacrifice for us to behave ourselves, and I do not think our lack of ability to make sleazy comments or bait our enemies in the interests of "humor" is the equivalent of silencing our voices.

I have been on GC for eight years now, and I have ALWAYS been able to express my hebephilia in ways that are important to me and to present a decent image to the general public. I have never found the need to turn on the sleaze in order to amuse my fellow GLer's on a PUBLIC board by making foolish comments. I respect GC for being a classy and respectful place and for doing our best to refute the lies and image that the antis attempt to present of us. If I thought this place was for GLer's ALONE I would NEVER post here. I avoid those private GL channels on IRC for a GOOD reason.

Ultimately, we have to take responsibility for our public behavior, and as the voice of GLer's in a public venue, we need to do ourselves proud and to keep in mind that this is not the cyber equivalent of a frat house but a place where GLer's present our voice and image to the world.