Image description: Body and other objects. Illustrator: Umaimah Damakka 

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and others (LGBTQI+) people across the world face varying levels of discrimination, exclusion, precarity, violence and phobia. Our difference seems to cancel out the possibility of empathy. But while there is the growing anti-gender backlash in Eastern Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world, there is also amazing strength of new voices speaking about intersectionality within the movement, about the experience of transgender and intersex people in particular and about the necessity of bringing our voices more strongly to speak about what concerns, impacts and affects us.

In this bilingual edition, different voices share what should be the priorities around sexuality and gender and the internet going forward. What does the feminist internet look like for LGBTI+ people?

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editorial

Are we just ticking boxes: Bringing up and expanding notions of gender in internet policy and governance

Smita

Can policy and law accommodate genders that are not confined by the binaries or are fluid? Spaces around governance often display an acute dysphasia and inability to comprehend what lies beyond and between categories, especially of gender.
Image description: Photo of poster saying No gender: Hands of the children.

Propping up patriarchy: Threats of the growing anti-gender movement

Sahar Moazami

Across Brazil, Bulgaria, Poland and at the international level there is a vicious and concerted attempt to dilute the language around gender in policy and UN mechanisms which targets any gains in gender equality, advocates exclusion of LGBTIQ people and restrictions on sexual and reproductive rights. The attack on gender is real and here, what are we going to do about it?
Image description: Illustration of body and various objects

Private Parts: Obscenity and Censorship in the Digital Age

Subha Wijesiri…

Between right-wing governments and corporate capture of online spaces, there are interesting shifts in how sexuality is censored and governed online and offline. This article looks at the reach and over-reach of laws related to obscenity and censorship in South Asia and the impact that has had on free speech around sex, sex work and sexuality.
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“Our Constitution is Strong”: Straight Digital Discourse and Disremembered Queer Accounts

Mumbi Kanyogo

What does it mean to rise to the surface of people's attention briefly because of violence done to your body, harassment, dispossession and precarity, only to be replaced the next day by the next trending hashtag? This article explores the limits of straight discourse online and the convenient elision of queer accounts and issues.
Image description: Illustration of 3 faces and other objects

Finding the Pleasure Point in Internet Policy Spaces

Sachini

For some of us pleasure in our work is possible, even if it is to find the breaking and bending points in the institutions of policy and law. But even though political and particularly feminist frameworks make space for pleasure, where is the space for that in legal or policy language at the international or national level?
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Sliding into the DMs - is the internet helping/hurting our snaxing?

Tiffany Kagure Mugo

In this podcast by Tiff and Manda, they explore what is happening when the internet enters the worlds(s) of lesbian, bisexual, queer women and others. Does it open up possibilities of those sliding into our DMs or can it be risky and even dangerous to be openly LGBTQI online. 
Image description: Illustration of person captioned coming out

My Little Corner of The Internet: The Role of Finstas in The Lives of Queer, Black Africans

Wanini Kimemiah

The internet is made up of many kinds of spaces knitted together - from the public to somewhat private to the many grey zones in between. Here is how queer black people find public corners for celebrating and self-care through Finstas.
Image description: Black and white photo of Shadi Amin talking to another person

“It made me despise the world of technology”: Interview with Iranian queer feminist Shadi Amin

Shreya Ila Anasuya

Shadi Amin, an Iranian queer feminist and writer, became the victim of an online defamation campaign that left her with no recourse. The allegations of rape, abuse, bullying and money laundering wrecked Amin's life and in this interview with Shreya Ila Anasuya, Amin describes the ways in which the attack took place and what happened after.
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Discourse online and onground around LGBTI rights in Poland

Rishika Pardikar

In Eastern Europe there is a spread of anti-gender discourse and in this context the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex (LGBTI) people is precarious. This article explores the protection for free speech, religion and for LGBTI rights in Poland. 
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How we reimagine and redefine freedoms

Mamello Sejake

What is the extraordinary power of storytelling and art when it comes to the liberation of personhood and sexuality. Here we explore the domino effect of telling our stories and hearing others.
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