Okay everyone, this is my official rant about not outing LGBTQ people, especially trans people. For some reason, there are some people who seem to think that it’s okay to do so, and I’m here to tell you that if you know about someone being LGBTQ, then don’t tell anyone else or talk about it with other people. It’s literally no one else’s business if someone is LGBTQ unless that person comes out themself.

The reason I’m going on this rant is that I have seen two instances in a short period of trans people being outed by someone without their consent. One was a contestant on Survivor, and the other was Global News outing political candidates. This was done without the permission of these people, who did not necessarily want their gender up for discussion, debate, and general disrespect. I’m calling these people out, because what they did was wrong.

Outing someone without their consent is literally an act of violence and oppression. If you out someone, then you are taking away that person’s agency, and is a violation of their person. You are making the fact that they are trans more important than anything else about them. It leads me to believe that you care more about their genitals than their person. It’s disgusting that you think you are entitled to that information, and to tell other people about it.

LGBTQ people do not owe you shit. We do not owe it to you to tell you about our identities, especially trans people, because it can be very dangerous to be a trans person. Trans people get murdered for being trans. Trans people are discriminated against, they face violence, as well as the humiliation of people discussing private things about them in public. As a side note, it’s not acceptable to ask about someone’s genitals and whether they plan to medically transition, because let’s face it, it’s none of your damn business.

Saying that a person who is not out is being dishonest about themself is wrong. A trans person who is presenting themself to you as their true gender is presenting themself truly, honestly, and bravely. It is none of your business what gender they were assigned at birth. And if a trans person is not presenting as their true gender, they are not deceiving you or hiding who they really are. That person does not owe it to anyone to come out, or to transition. As for the rest of the spectrum, it really is none of your business about who a person wants to have sex with.

I’ve said that “it’s none of your business” a lot in this post, and that’s because it’s not. You are not entitled to any information about a person’s gender identity or sexual preference. If someone chooses to share it, that’s great, but we don’t owe it to anyone to come out.

So seriously, don’t out people againt their will. It’s cowardly, dangerous for the person you’re outing, and just wrong, completely immoral.

This goes for LGBTQ people too! Just because you’re in the community doesn’t mean you can out people, even to other LGBTQ people. You might think that it’s safe and not a big deal because you consider yourself accepting, but it’s still none of your business. You’re not entitled to any other person’s identity but your own.

Rant over.