The Coalition Dev Kate Rayner Comes Out As Transgender, Met With Industry Support

Congrats on her! The fact we have to define this decision as "brave" shows we're still way behind on gender issues, but hopefully everything will turn out okay for her.

Ok, so she made a brave decision and had to announce it to the whole world via Twitter. Not just her colleagues. I don't see how this is news, really. It's private matter and excuse me but I don't understand why people need to share such information with others via social media. Guess I'll be branded a transphobic person now, but it's not about acceptance/tolerance. It's just about private matters being dragged out into the public.

With fear of censorship, job loss and cancel culture why would you risk being anything but supportive. They have shamed billions of people into silence.

When you have 50 people in a room and 10 say they love cake. Then 20 agree just so they do not get hated on by the loud vocal 10. The remaining 20 just shut up out of fear. Headline = " This place massively supports cake". But do they really.

@gollumb82 While I generally agree that it's not really newsworthy, I can understand why she chose to announce via Twitter/Social Media; saves having to "announce" over and over to multiple groups of colleagues/friends etc at different times. This way you only have to announce once and you can move on.

Why is it that the gender and sexuality of game developers is suddenly a big deal? It's like I don't really care how they identify so long as they are good at what they do.

I seriously really couldn't care less about these people and there need to shout to the entire world what sexuality they want to be. It's like washing your dirty laundrette in public. It's like someone shouting they are gay, yay no one cares bar your personal friends and family, move on, it's nothing new these days. Tell your friends family colleagues but millions of random strangers? Not sure what they are trying to achieve?

@KonstantTrouble "With fear of censorship, job loss and cancel culture why would you risk being anything but supportive. They have shamed billions of people into silence."

That's why the far right has Gab, Parlor, etc... Coddled conservatives need their safe spaces too, after all, despite claiming to hate them. 😜

I'm all for acceptance - I personally don't care what you do with your life or your DNA structure as long as your aren't an a**h*le and as long as it doesn't negatively affect others or burden the system; but how does this change your ability as a developer - or really any profession for that matter?

Yay your [x] - now get back to work.

My version of equality is so boring (but the most pure) - do not degrade nor celebrate anyone simply for being [x]. You don't get any extra privilege's for being [x] nor should being [x] hinder you from getting ahead - because doing either is actually [y]-ist. DNA, who you sleep with, and personal decisions have no bearing on your ability to contribute to society. Being [x] doesn't make you a better [z] - education and experience does.

Until we as people get passed what a person "is" and focus on a person's ability to do something, "ism's" will always be a problem.

@S1ayeR74 It's fine for you not to care, but at the same time there are others that do. If this story helps someone have the courage to accept who they are then I think it's always worth sharing.

@Flurbdurb I seriously doubt millions of Twitter users or readers of games sites care. Those who do are in the minority, or is this another example of how the majority must lean to the minority? Sorry but I really cannot see what telling millions of complete strangers what your sexuality is will achieve. I'm also not sure it's brave these days to come out either, seems someone is shouting it to the world every day.
You don't get any special treatment, in your adult life you want to be a man or women fine, you get treated the same as every other man or women then, that's what you want, equality right?
Anyway if you think you can only accept who you are by shouting it to the entire world, you've got bigger issues.

@gollumb82 the thing is, it isn't a private matter and shouldn't be treated as such. This is about a person - after however many years - finally being comfortable and confident enough in who she is to be able to say, very publicly, "this is who I am".

@VenomousAlbino
How is your gender/sex or sexual orientation not a private matter? Same with religion. It is a private matter, regardless of what the implications of such a statement are. I come here to read about Xbox and gaming related stuff. This hardly qualifies. I'm fairly certain many of MS employees are either gay/lesbian/trans etc but they don't see the need for such a public display of issues that concern them only.
No hate, I respect her for who she is and what she does. I still think it was unnecessary to go public with this.

@EVIL-C It is my understand the Safe Spaces that are mocked are rooms created in schools (mostly colleges) that allow people to escape things they find offensive or anxiety inducing. So I do not think they are comparable. If those rooms were designed for people to gather in because they were not allowed to say there opinions anywhere else and were banned from speaking in any other room. Then yes your comparison would make sense.

I stopped going to sites like IGN and Kotaku to stop seeing dumb articles like this. I might stop coming here too if I see more articles like this.

@gollumb82 it's not a private matter, because your sex, gender, race, ethnicity, religion and any number of other factors can dramatically affect how others perceive you and, by extension, treat you.

For example, I'm albino. It's - whether I like it or not - a huge part of who I am and affects my life both physically and mentally and at 36 years old I'm still mocked for it. By putting the word 'albino" in my username, it's my personal way of being upfront and unashamed of who I am. I'm saying "yes, I look different to you and my life has and always will be adversely affected by it, but this is who I am".

I know my situation isn't 100% comparable to that of a transgender person, but trust me: when there is something different about you, you find out exactly who is worth keeping in your life when they react to your situation. That's all this is.

@CrazyJF
There's lots of things that should be mentioned in public because of stigmas, but we usually only read about a select few. As for game development I think the gamedev community is making strides to be more inclusive and I applaud this.

@JayJ Yeah, reasonable folk don't care, unfortunately, if you follow the political landscape, and especially within the gaming community, there's a whole lot of people caring, and in all the wrong ways.

I mean, TLOU2 was only last year, and too much of the hate and discussion surrounded the character's genders. Unfortunately, highlighting how transgender people are a normal part of our society is important.

@AlexSora89 In fairness, coming out as gay can still be a big deal. I think we're decades from transgender people being accepted properly.

@VenomousAlbino
I appreciate you being honest like this and I can understand why you see it this way. Still, I wonder if this sort of approach (going public with private stuff) will change anything. People will still be either supportive or offensive towards you. There's also middle ground (me), but it's usually one or the other. I'd like to believe this could change things but I doubt it.
As for you- I hope that people around you judge you by who you are as a person. I can only imagine it must be difficult for you at times.

@gollumb82 I think going public is extremely important because it forces the conversation around being transgender to be had. Without transgender people finding the courage to publicly state who they are, this issue and more like it would've been swept under the carpet and there would be potentially millions of transgender individuals who feel that they have to hide or that they don't have a voice or that they're somehow worth less simply because of who they are. Although there is much room for improvement, issues surrounding the treatment and rights of women, LGBTQ individuals and entire races of people wouldn't have progressed to where they are today without people having the courage to find their voice and be heard.

Also thank you for the kind words; I appreciate it.

@CrazyJF You never thought the stigma was partly due to people shouting to everyone what their sexuality is? When no one cared and now its being told to them weather they wanted to know or not?

@KonstantTrouble What do you think social media is? Be it a physical room in a building, an open thread on twitter, or the literal public square outside, one will never be immune to disagreement. A school club with 30 people is NEVER going to have the reach of a top website like FB or Twitter, let's be intellectually honest here. Such disagreements can also lead to consequences for what one might say. That's why I ridicule the far-right for creating literal safe media spaces for themselves, because of the victim complex they project when they get pushback on their views; views that are both extreme and false in many cases, based on what I've read in these enclaves out of personal morbid curiosity.
Hating people over trivial matters like gender or skin colour is beyond pathetic, which ignores real policy and systemic issues, so don't whine when consequence culture (as is a more accurate term) gives one a reality check.

Stunning and brave.

@EVIL-C I agreed with you up to "creating literal safe media spaces". You mentioned Gab. I have only read about them. They were created to give people a place to speak freely. Not to dodge consequences. Mr. Smith on Twitter is still Mr. Smith on Gab. The people are going to Gab because they are censored on twitter. Or because they do not like social media censorship.

If it was just pushback. Like debate. Arguing ideas. And they still went to Gad to avoid that then yes your would be correct its a safe space. But they are being banned .

Example would be say if I like to discuss video game stuff and a site like this posts a story "like this" and I share my medical opinion. They decided anything negative is hate speech and ban my account. I in turn make a Xbox fan site that allows that opinion. Its not a safe space its a refuge camp for people that have bee silenced or fear being silence.

I just disagree with you on the reason people are going to alternative sites. I think they are banned people and silenced people that cant openly talk about there opinions because its just labeled as hate speech (the new catch all term). Which is different from the reason people use Safe Spaces in schools.

@FraserG so many disrespectful people out there tut tut.

@FraserG although I don’t know what has been said we must keep the power of free speech.

I’m a little confused. Is she actually female? How is she transgender?

I will never really get my head around it and understand the nature of it.
However as long as there is a beautiful person inside that is all that matters.

@papahefe I'm literally at a loss for words.

So stunning and brave to reveal something like this in an environment where people can't share honest opinions for fear of a lynching for wrongthink.

Yet the vast silent majority likely share that valid opinion.

Still stunning and brave though. Need to hammer that home!

@gollumb82 I will blame ignorance on your reply. That isn't an attack. There are plenty of topics I was and still am ignorant on. Part of the journey for anyon who is trans is acceptance . The fact is , this country is far from accepting when it comes to this topic. The more people are exposed to it the easer it will be for society to accept it. It's that simple. I can use examples in history where this is true but I don't want my response to go on and on.

Now I'm going to get a lil deeper here. You obviously haven't had a trans friend or relative commit sucide due to the stress of either coming out and being or not being accepted or beat within an inch of their life for being trans. I have . This all stems from acceptance or the lack there of. Trans people have a fear of coming out due to the very things I said. Taking coming out to the public forums brings awareness. My daughter's best friend is going to college to be a game designer. We got a call from our daughter stating that her friend literally came out today to her because of this person's tweet. If you fail to see the impact that something like coming out publicly can effect younger men, women and non binary after what I told you, then that is willful ignorance. That I do have issue with .

I do find it comical when people grow uneasy or uncomfortable about this or any other topic. You know what I do when I see a headline I'm not interested in or are offended by? I don't read the article. Gasp I know! So difficult. If you need emotional support if you go through something so traumatic I can inform you on how to do it in one easy step. You may need a therapist to handle the aftermath but with enough help I'm sure you all can do it. I believe in all of you!

@CBordo So you feel the entire world needs to know this? The 99.99% of the world she will never meet need to know her sexuality and name do they?

Good for her, now talk to me when there's news on Gears 6.

@Tasuki free speech for the dumb.

@CBordo Where in the story or on the tweet does it state the name was changed?

@CBordo
Err.. I guess this concerns the people she knows/works with. Not the entire world. I don't know her and if I got to know her today I'd naturally refer to her as a woman.

@Stonecarver
You replied to my post in a civil manner just to denigrate people who think differently in your next post. Sarcasm is your weapon of choice, I see. I don't want to get into a spat here. That's not why I posted my initial remarks. However, you can take issue with whatever/whoever. That's not going to change much. People will always have opinions which may not be in line with yours. Simple as that. As long as they discuss these issues in a civil manner they're free to do so. At least that's the way I see it.
As for abuse- I have a gay friend and I live in a country where gay people are abused every day.

@FraserG as have I. The lack of understanding and sympathy for what exactly going public means for trans people is really saddening to see. The ironic thing here is that all the people saying this isn't newsworthy are the reason it IS newsworthy.

She's a public figure, so the public announcement makes sense. Very happy for her.

@VenomousAlbino I think the issue is that most people who visit this site are older people (30-40 years) and never grew up with these topics. It actually reminds me of that one scene in Tell Me Why where an older guy isn't able to say to a male transgender that he is a man, but instead he says that he is like a man because he's not used to these things since these subjects were not as commonly talked about when he was younger.

What people need to realise is that we need to normalise these topics by giving exposure to news stories like Kate coming out. Only that way will people "get used to it". Because as it stands right now, society is a long way from being generally accepting of transgender people, among other topics. I mean just look at the reactions in this comment section, it's literally the same kind of responses like last year's Black Lives Matter movement where a good chunk of people would instead say "But don't all lives matter?". People are just not understanding the fundamental issues, which is that blacks aren't treated as fairly as whites, transgender people aren't being as widely accepted as they should be and so on. Bringing these topics into light will help us reach these goals, we can't just expect progression by letting these people hide in the shadows. They need to be seen and heard and I think it's good that Pure Xbox is contributing to that.

@LtSarge I can see where you're coming from, but age isn't an excuse. I'm in the age bracket you mentioned (I'm 36) and am completely and utterly accepting of trans people because they're just people. Saying "oh, they're older and stuck in an old-fashioned mindset" gives these people a free pass.

Some of the comments in this thread have been utterly abhorrent; I cannot stress that enough. And I will say to anyone who's posted here or anywhere else anything disparaging or dismissive regarding age, sex, gender, religion, disability, race, ethnicity: Pure Xbox posting stories like this one is something that should be applauded, not complained about or dismissed simply because you don't agree with it. It's mindsets like yours that are preventing people from living safely in the knowledge that they worth just as much as anyone else regardless of how they were born or, in some extreme cases, living at all.

@VenomousAlbino I'm not defending these people, I'm giving you an explanation for why they are behaving this way. There's a clear correlation in terms of older people who show a lack of understanding when it comes to these topics compared to younger people who have grown up with these things. When growing up, you've gotten used to the way that you know. But when something disrupts how you've come to know things, you'll instantly act hostile and repulsive: "We don't want to see these stories on an Xbox site". I'm not saying that all older individuals are like this, but given the site's demographic and the way people are acting like now, there's definitely a correlation. There's literally no other reason to get upset at a person exclaiming who she actually is.

@gollumb82 wow. No sarcasm at all in my next statement . You are willfully ignorant then if you don't understand any of this .

As far as your free speech comment, why does the right or people with views similar to yours always resort to the free speech comment? I didn't say you can't voice your opinion. This website didn't say you can't voice it. That being said this website has every right to block or remove you for any reason that they see fit. None of that has occurred though so why bring up fre speech . The topic of free speech has nothing to do with this thread yet you made it part of your arsanal . I don't get that mentality.

@Stonecarver
Don't worry, I'm not phased by your diagnosis of my wilful ignorance. Neither am I offended by anything you posted. I guess we don't see eye to eye on this and that's fine. Also, I don't think I was disrespectful towards anyone with anything I said.
Let me just say that I am saddened by the sadness of some of the people posting comments here and expecting everyone to fall in line with them. If not, branding them as 'old, ignorant, intolerant' etc. Labels- people love those. Anyway, sorry about this rant. I'm done with this topic. Have a good day.

@gollumb82 I seriously have zero issue labeling you or anyone who is intolerant of the trans community and this is intolerance . Going out of your way to post in a game forum about how you don't like people coming out in anyway that makes them feel accepted is intolerance.

This thread caught my eye because of the experience I shared earlier. This has a positive effect on a dear friend. You made a comment because you simply don't like people coming out in a public forum. I feel perfectly ok with the reasoning behind my posts . I'm going to be blunt. I find it disgusting that you are perfectly fine with your reasoning. I guess have fun with fighting the good fight of speaking out against people who choose to come out in anyway that makes it easier for them.