oh, it was changing before i even left highschool. I saw the writing on the wall because the 2008 election is about when the stormfront shit really amped up in response to obama's candidacy and subsequent presidency.

I stuck around, partly because i didn't want these shitheads displacing me on a place i considered a primary community for me, but also I felt like there was a rhetorical battle to be fought. When you're anonymous, the winning pov is usually the one that can sustain itself the loudest and longest. I guess back then I really didn't appreciate that the right wing enjoys more robust support from groups very willing to astroturf spaces like that, it felt like a worthy fight.

But by the time I began transitioning and reckoning with my queerness, the final straw was how deeply sick and unwell the lgbt community is there. I realized that maybe this place was super toxic and that it was time to go.

I'm mostly embarassed, but I still get wistful about what might've been