GamerG8 — Parallels Between GamerGate and Same Sex Marriage Advocacy

Back in 2008, I was heavily involved in the campaign against Proposition 8 — a ballot initiative to reverse the efforts of then governor Gavin Newsom and ban same-sex marriage in California.

My involvement was on a local level, but it required me to pay special attention to the efforts on both sides of the campaign. Not a week went by I wasn’t cringing at the latest pro-Prop. 8 commercials, all of which went out of their way to paint LGBT Californians in the most painful and disgusting light possible. Their favorite seemed to be convincing people that the legalization of same-sex marriage would lead to children being taught about it in public schools. Any efforts to debunk these usually exaggerated or sometimes blatantly false statement were usually met with “Well who cares what you think”. They would take extremists within the community, and use them to paint a false picture of what the actual community looked like. And at every chance, they would erase the voices of LGBT people and allies calling them on their lies.

What does this have to do with anything? Well I’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly why anti-GamerGate vitriol puts me so on edge. The pit in my stomach that pops up when Tim Schafer offensively erased many women and minorities at the GDC conference, turning them into the butt of his joke at the expense of their autonomy, seemed so familiar. And the more I thought on it, the more I started to remember how it felt before. When my assumptions were assumed by people trying to remove my rights. When my own family would see those commercials and believe them. When times of sadness and mourning were turned into jokes.

On my campus, a heated and active hub for the Prop. 8 discussion, organized an 8 Minutes of Silence to remember those we have lost to bullying and suicide, and open our arms to those who felt unsafe on the campus, proponents of Prop. 8 showed up as well. Blaring air horns, reciting from the Bible, doing everything in their power to drown out the powerful silence. Laughing while they did it. Our personhood was a joke to them. Something to be mocked.

So when I heard about Tim Schafer last night, and logged onto Twitter to find people mocking those who were hurting from his shameful comments, that same fire that burned in me that day was relit. GamerGate has been suffering from the same exact tactics that were used against the LGBT community in 2008, and to this day. People claiming to be victimized by gay people, crying that “They will never win!”. Supposedly unbiased sources using their positions to slander those fighting for equality. And organized “point and laugh” centers for people to happily cheer those who are suffering. I faced all of this during Prop. 8 because I was a lesbian woman. Now I’m facing it again, as a GamerGate supporter.

Mr. Schafer, you are a privileged man. You don’t seem aware of this, as many white male opponents of GamerGate are, but you are the definition of it. Well known, wealthy, white, male, straight — you’re the definition. Yet you stood on a stage and took the time given to you to disenfranchise hundreds who are not privileged, and treat real people like sockpuppets. And then, in the face of rightful outrage, you simply laughed about it. This is not the attitude of progressives. It is the attitude of oppressors.

Something else that struck me, that helped me put this together. Following the “joke”, many of the GamerGate and NotYourShield supporters on my page were angry, and upset. But when I woke up the next morning and checked Twitter, I noticed something different. An onslaught of people posting suicide hotlines, saying “If you’re hurting, talk to me”, pleading people to get help and not make a rash decision. No one connected it outright but part of me knew what it was for. Many who are disenfranchised are wracked with depression and mental pain — some of them because of that sort of disenfranchisement. Along the way, someone realized the real harm this could cause, and everyone started reaching out to those who needed help. That’s when the sadness I kicked in. The same familiar sadness — the sadness I feel every time I hear about another teenager taking their life because they are bullied, and erased, and mocked for their sexuality or gender identity. Here they’re being mocked for their identity as it relates to GamerGate. Told they’re worthless, less than human, “sockpuppets”. And the people behind this fancy themselves progressive.

But if they were being truly progressive, why is it their words conjure memories only of the people who have actually oppressed me? Why is it I don’t hear allies, but instead hear fundamentalists who laughed in the face of my rights? Why is it I don’t hear friends, but the enemies who worked so hard to diminish our efforts? Why is it I don’t see people fighting for rights, but instead see the same people who voted to take my rights away. And the same way those advocating FOR Prop. 8 painted themselves as heroes, claimed “Well you’re the ones trying to take away our marriage!” those against GamerGate claim “Well you’re the ones trying to force us out of gaming!” Is there any real indication of this? No. There are extremists and trolls who don’t represent the total community commiting these acts, and rather than fight against those, you grin and use it to use it against everyone. These were the exact tactics used by those trying to get rid of same-sex marriage.

I know this will likely fall on deaf ears, because most who oppose GamerGate don’t realize this, they don’t realize that pain is real, they don’t realize who they’re harming. But to those who know what they’re doing, those who know they’re hurting people, and who just don’t care, how dare you. How dare you slander us then act like there is no other story. How dare you act like the only people supporting GamerGate are the ones you villify most, the same way I was told the only people who want same-sex marriage and gay people. How dare you erase my identity and treat me like a joke while toting any sort of “progressive” ideals. How dare you laugh in the face of people in pain from your hurtful rhetoric. How dare you claim to fight for minorities while actively taking up the mantle of the oppressors you claim to despise. And how dare you make me relive those horrendous memories of when I truly felt I didn’t belong, and dare tell me I’m stupid for siding with people who actually truly accept others. You think you are the good guys in this situation, that you can do no wrong. But in life, evil is marked by your actions.

How dare you.

This story has a happy ending though. Because when those 8 minutes of silent mourning ended, we quickly drowned out those oppressors with our cheers and love and passion. Hugging the strangers next to us, telling those oppresors they’ll never get rid of us.

And if you don’t think GamerGate will do the same, then you are just as deluded as those oppressors still desperately trying to keep same-sex marriage from becoming the norm it will inevitably become.

I am not anyone’s shield, let alone yours. But I will quickly become a sword if you continue to hurt people the way you already have.