LGBTQIA + : Proud, unyielding, and out of patience – STJV
STJV
Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo
In France, while the population at large is becoming increasingly accepting of LGBTQIA+ people, the political system and the mainstream media are sinking into a hateful and lethal spiral of moral panic to justify their abject ideas and their cis-hetero-normative vision of society.
While the French Senate passed a bill (in French) restricting minors’ access to transition, Emmanuel Macron declared that it would be « grotesque to change sex at the city hall (in French) ». Half of LGBTQIA+ people say they have experienced general rejection (in French); a third declare they have been insulted; and more than one person out of 10 have been physically assaulted because of their identity, gender and/or sexual orientation [SOS Homophobie report].
LGBTQIAphobia kills. In 2024, out of the 186 cases of violent assaults reported by SOS Homophobie (in French) in France, 5 were murders, and these are only reported cases. These cases are most often combined with other forms of discrimination such as racism, ableism, classism, as well as stigmas and prejudice against sex-workers and people with HIV/AIDS.
The reactionary offensive is in full swing worldwide, with a critical anti-trans ruling, particularly against trans women, on access to gendered spaces in the UK and the annihilation of self-id under Trump in the USA. Being trans is still criminalised, and can lead to sentences up to and including the death penalty, in several countries. It is interesting to note that, while our rights are under attack, their assailants are posing as protectors to justify genocide, in particular Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, by portraying their victims as homophobes.
In the midst of all this, Pride month will once again be an opportunity for companies, governments, mass murderers and more generally for the entire apparatus of capitalist domination, to wash their hands. When your hands are red with blood, rubbing them for a few seconds appears to be enough to turn them pink.
While some reactionary groups, inspired in one way or another by the ‘gamergate’, find video games too ‘woke’, call for boycotts of games they imagine to be affected by the spectre of ‘DEI’ and harass workers in the sector, the reality couldn’t be further from their conspiracy theories.
Indeed, LGBTQIA+ people have never been that much the butt of the capitalist machine: our stories and our lives, when they are not borne solely on our shoulders, are widely mistreated by ignorant or even downright ill-intentioned creative managers, when they are not simply abandoned after we leave companies that sideline us back to the closet as soon as we raise our voice.
Schools, whose aim is to mass-produce docile workers, accustom students to the flood of violence (in French) they will be subjected to in the workplace.
Companies such as Don’t Nod, Quantic Dream, Ubisoft, Blizzard… display a rainbow logo 30 days a year, but structurally foster and protect LGBTQIAphobic behaviour (in French), something many workers can testify to.
Employers are not our allies in this fight for our rights and if they do sometimes give us a voice, it’s only so that they can benefit from it.
The situation is not any better for players. The lack of moderation in multiplayer spaces leaves room for widespread violence and communities have to organise on their own to provide safer gaming spaces. The creative directors’ stubbornness in depicting our sufferings more than our joys, which is all they know about our lives while they are the ones putting us through it, paints a very bleak picture in many of our games.
The only viable response to the ongoing attacks against us is unwavering class solidarity, everywhere, at all times. LGBTQIA+ people are also workers; therefore, the liberation of workers cannot be achieved without the liberation of LGBTQIA+ people. Unions have a duty to be a refuge and a place of resistance to carry our struggles forward collectively.
We do our part all year round. If you are a victim or witness of LGBTQIAphobic violence, contact your union sections or get in touch via . We stand up for everyone, members and non-members alike.
We also call for everyone to take part in all forms of social movements, not just LGBTQIA+ ones. If oppressions converge, then so must the struggles: anti-racism, anti-ableism, anti-fascism and feminism are all necessary for our collective liberation.
Over the course of June, we will be highlighting various organisations and campaigns fighting for our liberation, and we invite you to join them. We will also be providing accounts and analyses to shed light on what the video games industry really inflict to LGBTQIA+ people when the veneer cracks.
Our demands are the logical outcome of these actions and we will continue to fight to ensure that they are met within companies:
These demands will not be met simply by appealing to the goodwill of our oppressors, but won with solidarity, collective action, strikes and a balance of power.
(1) cis-hetero-normative : pertaining to a heterosexual and cisgender-only view of society and opposing LGBTQIA+ rights
(2) gamergate : far right movement stemming from the 2010’s advocating for the removal of women, racialized or LGBTQIA+ people in video games as well as in the companies that make them
(3) DEI : Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, name given to the different programs aiming to improve diversity and inclusion in companies and in the games being made
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