Medium stands for LGBTQIA+ rights
Embracing equality and inclusion across our platform, during Pride Month and year-round
At Medium, we believe that everyone has a story to tell. We value diverse perspectives, and we’re committed to building Medium as a safe, inclusive platform for readers and writers, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Much of the work we do to make Medium safer and more inclusive happens behind the scenes, but we wanted to make sure our stance on this topic was publicly stated and clear. Medium is committed to championing LGBTQIA+ rights, both within our organization and on our platform. We believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. We value diversity, and we’re proactively working to create a platform where LGBTQIA+ voices are visible, protected, and celebrated.
As a celebration of Pride Month, we’re pulling back the curtain and highlighting some of the ways our team is working to create a better internet for the LGBTQIA+ community.
We celebrate diversity in our content curation
In our staff-curated lists and “What We’re Reading” series, we’re always working to highlight a wide range of writers and publications from all backgrounds and identities. We’re open to suggestions here too — leave a response on any of our lists or posts with feedback or recommended reads.
This month, we’re curating a running list of LGBTQIA+ perspectives, including:
- Author and activist Julia Serano’s nuanced and well-informed breakdown of the anti-trans parent movement;
- Machine learning scientist Conor Mc Cabe’s analysis of anti-LGBTQ bias in ChatGPT;
- Author Jude Ellison S. Doyle’s personal reflection on why it’s still good to be queer;
- An evergreen story from our archive: Barry Yeoman’s profiles of LGBTQ Baby Boomers born before the Stonewall Riots.
If you have a story to share, tag it Pride Month on Medium, and browse the tag to read more stories.
Aside from curated lists, we also Boost stories from authors of all backgrounds and identities on Medium every day. As we explain in this FAQ about the pilot program, we believe representation matters and that’s why our waitlist form to become a Boost nominator asks folks if they identify as BIPOC, disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, nonbinary, a woman, or a veteran.
How else can we highlight the diversity of Medium’s community? What topics or communities might we be overlooking? Leave your ideas in the responses.
Medium is no place for hate
We believe that through helping people share their experiences and viewpoints in good faith we can foster greater level of understanding, education, and acceptance.
To support that mission, our Trust and Safety Team has developed a robust and actionable set of guidelines and requirements to which we hold every member of our Medium community. We also realize that, at various moments in the larger cultural conversation, certain underrepresented groups become targeted and our rules enforcement needs to quickly evolve in order to maintain our mission of moving conversation forward.
We believe the world needs to hear LGBTQIA+ voices, and that our community rules can help that happen. For example, we don’t allow pseudoscientific claims about anyone’s identities, misleading statistics to belittle anyone’s struggles, or glorifying the harmful actions of hate groups. We also don’t allow intentional misgendering, dead-naming, or claims that transgender individuals are not their gender identity. We believe that people should be exactly who they want to be, and should be able to freely express themselves. We are here to support and protect that.
When we are made aware of individuals who are unable or unwilling to grant that level of respect and kindness to our Medium community, we work swiftly to address the issue, ensuring all users, including those from the LGBTQIA+ community, can use the platform safely and comfortably.
If you see this occurring, please let us know by reporting it on Medium or opening a helpdesk ticket. There is a team of actual humans on the other side who look at every report. We appreciate everyone’s assistance in making a Medium a place for everyone to safely tell their story.
We want Medium to be a place that helps the best stories thrive, no matter who they come from. In everything from how we support our employees to how we moderate content, we’re working to create a place for meaningful, constructive idea-sharing and storytelling on the internet. And supporting LGBTQIA+ voices — this month and year-round — is an important part of that.
Happy Pride!
— Brittany Jezouit, Harris Sockel, Jeremy Puma, and the team @ Medium
