Inquiry about gender, sexuality, etc...

[rowan]

someone's gotta ask, i suppose - and that'll be me!

so i was wondering - what is this site's stance on LGBT+ cats? additionally (though included in the T), are nonbinary-gendered cats allowed? would it be possible, if this is the case, to change the wording on the kitting form in some way to reflect that it's about the cat's designated gender at birth and not the one they identify as necessarily?

i'm really interested in joining, but want to hear about this before i make the decision to join this site. thanks for reading!

[Greymuzzles]

Hi Rowan,
As you’ve probably noticed, we have no rules/ect that currently deal with the possibility of LGBT+ cats—largely because *I wasn’t originally expecting to see the various non-hetero/binary sexualities/genders appearing amongst cats, and haven’t yet seen much need to officially address the matter. Evidentially I’ll need to reconsider that and see about adding something to our official materials.

As to the question itself:
LGBT+ cats are allowed on TCE, and we have had several gay and one trans character registered to date (though unfortunately most of these are currently inactive). I’m also inclined to accept nonbinary cats—but, as is the case for LGBT+ in general, you will need to add a note or field to the profile template to display these traits (for want of a better word). It’s also important to note that, whilst TCE itself accepts these cats, much of Treeclan likely won’t, as the clan is meant to be intolerant of anything ‘different’. As such, nonbinary/trans cats would likely be referred to/treated as their biological gender in-character unless they happen to be played with a more open character (who they've also come out to), and non-hetero cats will likely face similar issues from much of the clan. In practice this sort of thing would more than likely come mainly from NPCs rather than player-owned characters, who technically make up a small segment of Treeclan’s numbers (it’s meant to be a giant of a clan), but you’d need to take this into account when creating/writing your character. There’s also the potential for this to begin changing in the future, but such is entirely dependent on how the roleplay plays out.

On the plus side: there’s so much emphasis on the Bird/Boar divide (and the ‘problem’ of Borderlines) that LGBT+ cats may find it relatively easy to get by—particularly if they find a couple of supportive friends/family members, since Treeclanners also tend to be blindly loyal to those they value most. It’s also possible to earn a certain amount of tolerance from the rest of the clan by making oneself a skilled/valuable enough warrior, so there are ways around the problems mentioned above!


_{(*I want to make it clear that I am an LGBT+ supporter, but didn’t originally think anyone would make non hetero/binary cats because…cats…
I also acknowledge that basically all of Treeclan’s overall views/mannerisms are problematic—but that’s also what a large portion of the underlining conflict arises from.)}

[rowan]

thanks so much for the thorough reply! i really appreciate it - i think i'd like to make some non-cis/non-straight cats at some point in the future here, so knowing i'm allowed to is a breath of fresh air. you wouldn't believe how many roleplays have restricted that and made me feel unwelcome because of it...

in any case, i think this is just the answer i need to push me to joining! i'll join later today when i have the time. i really look forward to being here!

[Greymuzzles]

You’re very welcome – though I have to admit that I’m not too surprised to hear that a lot of other sites have restricted/banned those characteristics. It’s very easy to get stuck on the idea that we’re playing cats, and to arbitarily decide that x isn’t acceptable because it’s not known to exist amongst real cats. I’m sorry to hear that other sites have made you feel unwelcome because of that, though :/

We’ll be very happy to have you – and I look forwards to officially welcoming you as a member!