Thread:Abarlas/@comment-5091688-20120509133403/@comment-5091688-20120509145141

Bringing up the first point you made, Ralok; being transgender does not fall under the clause of sexual orientation legally, therefore discrimination against someone who is transgender is transphobia, not homophobia. Wikia legally cannot claim it is without risking legal trouble, since it's a United States-based organization and the United States defines sexual orientation and gender identity as two separate things in many of its legal documents.

Sexism would also not cover it, because it is a term used for discrimination based on sex (i.e., what a person was assigned at birth or what their legal documents, like birth certificates, currently state them as being) and very, very rarely can be used to defend someone who is experiencing transphobia or homophobia. I've certainly never seen that defense, and can't even slightly imagine it taking place with a case of homophobia. Sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity are represented as different things in courts of law, and are marked as different things in documents like bills and state constitutions. There are constitutions that allow discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but not sex, if that clarifies the fact. It just seems like it would follow logically that Wikia's Terms of Use, a legal and binding document in the United States courts of law, would address them as different things to avoid snares and confusion if a lawsuit or complaint were to take place.

I brought this issue up to an administrator because discrimination against transgendered people is clearly illegal in the state of California and was clarified under the Gender Non-Discrimination Act that was put into use in January of this year. Wikia seems to be based on California, from what I gleaned from their Terms of Use, so I was wondering if they had any intention of actually stating transphobia specifically is not allowed. The term 'transphobia' clearly encompasses all discrimination against any and all people who are transgender, just like 'homophobia' covers discrimination against anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or any non-straight sexual orientation, so listing 'transphobia' would cover any 'new identities' that may 'crop up every now and then'.

It seems like something that was on the way, and I was just wondering if anyone in charge had put any thought into a change like this taking place, or if there was a specific reason they hadn't listed it (ongoing legal troubles, a desire not to due to personally-held beliefs, etc). This got incredibly long, and I apologize; I just wanted to clarify my intention, because I didn't intend to spark a discussion on a question this simple.