Ravelry, an online crafting community with more than 8 million members, roiled the internet Sunday with an announcement that it was banning shows of support for President Donald Trump and his administration, equating it to “support for white supremacy.”

“We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy,” the site said in a statement. “Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy.”

The social media site, which caters to knitters and crocheters, is targeting patterns, projects, forum posts and individual user profiles. The new policy is based on similar guidelines from a gaming site and notes:

"You can still participate if you do in fact support the administration, you just can’t talk about it here.

"We are not endorsing the Democrats nor banning Republicans.

"We are definitely not banning conservative politics. Hate groups and intolerance are different from other types of political positions.

"We are not banning people for past support.

"Do not try to weaponize this policy by entrapping people who do support the Trump administration into voicing their support.

“Similarly, antagonizing conservative members for their unstated positions is not acceptable.”

The decision drew immediate, passionate response online, with some blasting the decision as censorship and other applauding it.

“I am a proud member of @Ravelry and support their decision. #resist #ResistTogether #ravelry” tweeted Leona Perreault.

“'Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy.' Seriously? That’s what you think? Wow, Just wow. I wouldn’t want to be a part of your group. Too many small-minded, uninformed people there" tweeted @Ronni_g.

Noncrafters, meanwhile, appeared largely baffled.

I’m sure there will be a catastrophic amount of blowback..... once people figure out what @ravelry is. — Ralphus Maximus (@rhoschjr) June 23, 2019

And then there were the craft-specific jabs.

I knew without looking you crochet with acrylic. — Catherine (@craftyexpat) June 23, 2019

Don’t let the yarn swift whack you in the way out. — Sandra Hunter (@SandyJHunter) June 23, 2019

Ravelry’s known as the premier online site for knitting and crocheting patterns, with close to a million available. It also’s a popular social networking site and offers thousands of online forums, most of them not connected to politics. The Sock Knitters group, for instance, has more than 16,000 members, and the local Portland Metro Area Ravelers group has nearly 3,000.

This isn’t the first time political differences have buffeted the crafting community -- the PussyHat Project that became emblematic of the 2017 Women’s March protesting Trump’s inauguration caused a lot of controversy. Some people didn’t agree with the movement’s message, and other simply felt the hats were vulgar.

In 2012, members of Ravelry clashed with the U.S. Olympic Committee, after the committee objected to a Ravelry group’s use of the term “Ravelympics” for an online knitting event. The spat drew international attention, and although the knitters ultimately changed the name of the event, the USOC apologized to the crafters for insulting them.

-- Mary Mooney

mmooney@oregonian.com

@maryknitspdx

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