Posts on the Critical Geography Listserv, March 1st to 7th. BANNED. Dissident ideas are not tolerated.
I am called "poisonous" and "outrageous."
Subscriptions are free.
Calls for me to be kicked off the listserv.
Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;82c11d5a.2503
Subject: Stand against queerphobia
From: Jay Todd <Jay.Todd@GLASGOW.AC.UK>
Reply-To: Jay Todd <Jay.Todd@GLASGOW.AC.UK>
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2025 11:37:24 +0000
Hi all
Yesterday we saw some absolutely outrageous biphobia and misogyny posted on this list. I am not replying to this email directly as I don't wish you give it any other traction. Particularly troubling was the reference to queer young people as being in receipt of a "social contagion". This is a dangerous and false narrative used by those hostile to queer people and the far right to present our existence (and particularly the existence of queer young people, queer women, and trans folks) as false. I call upon all of us - particularly cisgender and straight members of the geographical community - to stand up and call out such narratives when they emerge in our spaces. We cannot afford to let them fester.
Jay
Dr Jay Todd (they/them)
Leverhulme Research Fellow
School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
University of Glasgow
Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;b905a704.2503
From: John Morris <John.Morris@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK>
Reply-To: John Morris <John.Morris@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2025 13:15:32 +0000
Hi Jay,
Thank you for highlighting that poisonous content was posted yesterday and for this call to action.
I have contacted the list owner directly, suggesting that the OP be removed from the list for repeatedly posting hateful content.
I urge others do the same.
Best wishes,
John
The post that got them angry.
Playing with numbers, Gallup 2025 vs. 2024 poll results on LGBTQ identified persons
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;6e0ff7a1.2502
Subject: Playing with numbers, Gallup 2025 vs. 2024 poll results on LGBTQ identified persons
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2025 14:31:22 +0000
In 2024 the Gallup Poll released results and the public was informed that the percentage of those who identitied as LGBTQ+ had risen to 7.3%.
But closer examination of the results, in a table in the Gallup poll results it showed that it was mostly young women who now thought they were Bisexual. This got considerable commentary that undermined the idea that there was this great coming out.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/611864/lgbtq-identification.aspx
https://edwardhsebesta.substack.com/p/2023-gallup-poll-lgbtq-identification
Bisexuality has always been an interesting catagory.
Prior to Grindr the bisexual male person that you met was some person at the Gay bar or club or social function that maybe kissed a girl 17 years ago. Often sometime later the person who say that it was about accepting being Gay.
With Grindr now you can meet bisexuals outside the clubs and it is someone who messages you explaining that his date with his girlfriend is over at 11:00 pm and are you interested meeting up later.
Now we have this new class of women who are bisexual, but date men. It is largely harmless, they don't seem to be in Lesbian social spaces. Though at the last Pride event I went to in Dallas, I was left wondering where the Gay people were. It was a fun crowd and likeable, but there has now been organized another Pride event in the Gayborhood where there are actually a visible presence of Lesbians and Gays.
Bisexuality is a sort of metaphysical thing, with men we don't connect people with penile plethsymographs to check sexual orientation. It is a self-declared identity.
Recently Gallup in 2025 released their 2024 data and there were all sorts of declarations and the percentage of LGBTQ+ was proclaimed to be even higher.
However, in the 2025 report, something was MISSING. The table of identity by gender and age. The likely fact that it would become obvious that it was just young women cosplaying being bisexual as part of social contagion was avoided. Maybe some term can invented for bisexuals women who only date men, they can be given a flag.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/656708/lgbtq-identification-rises.aspx
https://edwardhsebesta.substack.com/p/not-revealing-the-data-the-gallup
It becomes evident how the initialism LGBTQXYZ+, which is up to 14 letters now, is used to obscure and not reveal, and when some data undermine triumphal claims you can just not release it.
More denunciations and calls for my expulsion.
Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;c0f78224.2503
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
From: Robert Shaw <Robert.Shaw2@NEWCASTLE.AC.UK>
Reply-To: Robert Shaw <Robert.Shaw2@NEWCASTLE.AC.UK>
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 08:44:42 +0000
Hello,
People have plenty of places that they can share their views and opinions. The right to do so is not a right to do so anywhere, everywhere and in any circumstance, and I don’t see that them being aired on an email forum of geographers is likely to be a particularly useful place for this debate to happen.
I have noted some of the queerphobic perspectives of one contributor with concern over the last month, but have felt – in line with the concerns that you express Hillary – that we should not dive straight to calls to ban or exclude. The content in Friday’s email clearly goes beyond this, relying on lazy queerphobic tropes, misogyny, ageism and uninformed speculation, amongst other things. If the contributor wants to write such stuff, they can create a Reddit account where they’ll get a lot more views and opportunities to share such thoughts, so they need not feel silenced. To the extent to which Crit-Geog Forum is an academic forum and serves a role as a professional space, I’d like to think that the bar to contributing is a little higher and these posts have repeatedly fallen short of that.
I want to thank Jay for taking the step to highlight them.
All the best
Rob Shaw
Dr Robert Shaw (Lawshaw)
Reader in Geography
Senior Tutor for Geography Stages 2 & 3
Newcastle University
Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;ab86b6c1.2503
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
From: Julyan Levy <julyan.levy@YAHOO.COM>
Reply-To: julyan.levy@YAHOO.COM
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 10:07:54 +0000
Thank you for calling this out Jay x
On 1 Mar 2025 11:37, Jay Todd <Jay.Todd@GLASGOW.AC.UK> wrote:
(The following should be a double quote. Substack formatting won’t do it)
Hi all
Yesterday we saw some absolutely outrageous biphobia and misogyny posted on this list. I am not replying to this email directly as I don't wish you give it any other traction. Particularly troubling was the reference to queer young people as being in receipt of a "social contagion". This is a dangerous and false narrative used by those hostile to queer people and the far right to present our existence (and particularly the existence of queer young people, queer women, and trans folks) as false. I call upon all of us - particularly cisgender and straight members of the geographical community - to stand up and call out such narratives when they emerge in our spaces. We cannot afford to let them fester.
Jay
Dr Jay Todd (they/them)
Leverhulme Research Fellow
School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
University of Glasgow
Project website: translivesintheuk.wordpress.com
Latest work:
Todd, J.D. (2023). Exploring young trans people's everyday experiences of 'out-of-placeness' and socio-bodily dysphoria. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
Todd, J.D. (2023). Intervention - Trans liberation in the UK is under threat: How geographers can respond. Antipode Foundation.
Todd, J.D. (2023). Exhaustion, exhausting temporalities, and young trans people's everyday lives in the UK. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;ab617742.2503
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
From: Soli Levi <soli.levi@HIFMB.DE>
Reply-To: Soli Levi <soli.levi@HIFMB.DE>
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 11:58:57 +0000
Dear Crit Geo Forum,
I am an early career crit geo researcher, just about to complete my PhD in a few weeks. I have been following this list since starting my PhD, and while it is not perfect, it has been an incredibly helpful resource in terms of keeping track of relevant publications, CfPs, conferences, and generally staying in the loop with the world of critical geography. The list has had its ups and downs, but in all my years of following the list I have refrained from posting anything; I have been happy to read so many different perspectives and debates, and I am grateful to all of you for this.
But I am angry.
I am angry that *somehow* this list continues to believe that freedom of expression means allowing hateful, biphobic, misogynistic, queerphobic posts to stay up in the name of free speech.
I am angry that claims such as "bisexuality is a sort of metaphysical thing" that it is "a self-declared identity" (as if self-declared identities are not valid??), are considered acceptable by some to share in a professional, *critical* academic space.
I am angry that in order to benefit from the positive contributions of this list I have to tolerate statements that paint me as "just young women cosplaying being bisexual as part of social contagion."
I am angry because ideas like "social contagion" and "checking for sexual orientation" sit uncomfortably, worryingly close to ideas of social purity and social cleansing.
I think there needs to be a collective reflection on where the line between freedom of speech/expression and outright bigotry is located. And whether it is the interests of this list to allow any and every expression of bigotry in the name of freedom of speech, or whether it is more important to create a safe and inclusive safe space for all the list members to have an opportunity to engage with and benefit from this list.
I don't have an answer or a solution. I don't have the capacity to lead such a reflection, being so close to my PhD submission date. But I wanted to share my thoughts now, in the hopes that there are others that feel the same way. I also want to acknowledge those of you who have spoken out against these hateful posts. Thank you.
Cheers,
Soli
More denunciation.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;7d87dcce.2503
Re: Stand against queerphobia
From: Nicholas Mcglynn <N.Mcglynn2@BRIGHTON.AC.UK>
Reply-To: Nicholas Mcglynn <N.Mcglynn2@BRIGHTON.AC.UK>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 12:45:27 +0000
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 12:45:27 +0000
Hi all,
I'm really tired of the exceptionally ignorant and profoundly uncritical posts we receive on this mailing list on a daily basis. Ofc we have the usual bores who treat the list like a Facebook feed, and with whom genuine discussion is simply impossible due to their astoundingly (and seemingly proudly) low level of knowledge and comprehension of the topics they wish to raise. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's no wonder the list has become such a joke amongst geographers.
Now we seem also to be asked to put up with naked anti-feminist, anti-trans, anti-bisexual, anti-queer sentiment - not simply uncritical or unreflexive but actively biased - on a daily basis.
Just today we've seen a post implying some kind of nefarious 'feminist' (a homogeneous monolith of course) and 'trans activist' (ditto) plot to ban drag shows in the USA. All this on the 'evidence' of a few cherrypicked examples from weak media sources over the past decade. Even an undergraduate would do better research than this. For instance, a critical researcher/scholar might have included:
- proper systematic searching, selection and recording of data items;
- some actual analysis (e.g. of how anti-LGBTQ politicians cynically and selectively feign feminist stances);
- engagement with the wealth of published empirical research (including from members of this list!) about precisely these examples;
- discussion of the *many* cis gay men who are anti-drag (e.g. the Gays Against Groomers group);
- acknowledgement that these anti-drag feminists are generally extremely anti-trans (e.g. Sheila Jeffreys, Kathleen Stock);
- acknowledgement of the huge numbers of feminists and trans activists who not only support but do drag themselves, with some of the world's most successful and popular drag queens being trans/NB activists e.g. Sasha Colby, Peppermint, Bob The Drag Queen);
- acknowledgement of the real and at times pretty foul misogyny which *can* be present in some drag (e.g. jokes about how bad vaginas smell etc - one has to assume they've never eaten out a man's sweaty arse).
There *absolutely* is a place for careful, constructive and mutually supportive discussions about the relationships between sexual and gender identities, subjectivities, politics etc. I have attended some excellent events which supported such discussions, even recently (e.g. for Ben Nichols' fantastic Beyond Radical project). But to me it's just not acceptable, on a mailing list supposedly for critical geographic scholars and researchers, for the list to host and circulate uncritical posts which deliberately, with such great prejudice, and yet with such poor scholarship aim to cast trans people, feminists and others as the enemies of gay people.
The poster has said of themself 'I try to do some intellectual work, but I really am capable of doing limited work in that regard'. I wholeheartedly invite them to try. Try writing up some of this research for an academic journal, and see what it means to *have* to engage in careful, critical scholarship, with peer review. Their research will be dramatically improved - but they will not be able to get away with making the kinds of sweeping and unsupportable claims that they can make on a blog.
I say all of this as a gay man; as a practicing (well, in fact *extremely* good at it) homosexual; as a geographer of sexualities; as an enthusiast of explicitly gay scholarship and activism both pre- and post- Queer Theory; as someone who has become more and more critical of Queer Theory; and as the organiser of a very successful conference in 2019 ('Gayness In Queer Times') that specifically grappled with what it means to be gay when queer seems hegemonic. The conference, incidentally, was simultaneously accused of being an anti-queer conference run by gays *and* an anti-gay conference run by queers - we had a laugh!
All the average,
Nick
Re: Stand against queerphobia
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;f114266e.2503
From: "Randell-Moon, Holly" <hrandell-moon@CSU.EDU.AU>
Reply-To: Randell-Moon, Holly
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 23:45:58 +0000
Agree thanks for calling this out.
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of Julyan Levy <00002d5b2f26ae7e-dmarc-request@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Monday, 3 March 2025 9:07 PM
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobiaThank you for calling this out Jay x
On 1 Mar 2025 11:37, Jay Todd <Jay.Todd@GLASGOW.AC.UK> wrote:
Hi all
Yesterday we saw some absolutely outrageous biphobia and misogyny posted on this list. I am not replying to this email directly as I don't wish you give it any other traction. Particularly troubling was the reference to queer young people as being in receipt of a "social contagion". This is a dangerous and false narrative used by those hostile to queer people and the far right to present our existence (and particularly the existence of queer young people, queer women, and trans folks) as false. I call upon all of us - particularly cisgender and straight members of the geographical community - to stand up and call out such narratives when they emerge in our spaces. We cannot afford to let them fester.
Jay
Dr Jay Todd (they/them)
Leverhulme Research Fellow
School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
University of Glasgow
Project website: translivesintheuk.wordpress.com
Latest work:
Todd, J.D. (2023). Exploring young trans people's everyday experiences of 'out-of-placeness' and socio-bodily dysphoria. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
Todd, J.D. (2023). Intervention - Trans liberation in the UK is under threat: How geographers can respond. Antipode Foundation.
Todd, J.D. (2023). Exhaustion, exhausting temporalities, and young trans people's everyday lives in the UK. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
Yet even more denunciations
In this case somehow freedom of speech for me is unfair to the Indigenous.
Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;2727c3dd.2503
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
From: "Randell-Moon, Holly" <hrandell-moon@CSU.EDU.AU>
Reply-To: Randell-Moon, Holly
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2025 04:42:47 +0000
Thank you Nick and Soli, I completely agree and note that accepting the terms of service and being accountable for speech is not censorship. Here is a link to Chelsea Watego's work on the unequal distribution of speech from an Indigenous perspective: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10304312.2018.1487126
In Randell-Moon’s email was a full quotation of Moglynn’s email.
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of Nicholas Mcglynn <N.Mcglynn2@BRIGHTON.AC.UK>
Sent: Tuesday, 4 March 2025 11:45 PM
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobiaHi all,
I'm really tired of the exceptionally ignorant and profoundly uncritical posts we receive on this mailing list on a daily basis. Ofc we have the usual bores who treat the list like a Facebook feed, and with whom genuine discussion is simply impossible due to their astoundingly (and seemingly proudly) low level of knowledge and comprehension of the topics they wish to raise. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's no wonder the list has become such a joke amongst geographers.
Now we seem also to be asked to put up with naked anti-feminist, anti-trans, anti-bisexual, anti-queer sentiment - not simply uncritical or unreflexive but actively biased - on a daily basis.
Just today we've seen a post implying some kind of nefarious 'feminist' (a homogeneous monolith of course) and 'trans activist' (ditto) plot to ban drag shows in the USA. All this on the 'evidence' of a few cherrypicked examples from weak media sources over the past decade. Even an undergraduate would do better research than this. For instance, a critical researcher/scholar might have included:
- proper systematic searching, selection and recording of data items;
- some actual analysis (e.g. of how anti-LGBTQ politicians cynically and selectively feign feminist stances);
- engagement with the wealth of published empirical research (including from members of this list!) about precisely these examples;
- discussion of the *many* cis gay men who are anti-drag (e.g. the Gays Against Groomers group);
- acknowledgement that these anti-drag feminists are generally extremely anti-trans (e.g. Sheila Jeffreys, Kathleen Stock);
- acknowledgement of the huge numbers of feminists and trans activists who not only support but do drag themselves, with some of the world's most successful and popular drag queens being trans/NB activists e.g. Sasha Colby, Peppermint, Bob The Drag Queen);
- acknowledgement of the real and at times pretty foul misogyny which *can* be present in some drag (e.g. jokes about how bad vaginas smell etc - one has to assume they've never eaten out a man's sweaty arse).
There *absolutely* is a place for careful, constructive and mutually supportive discussions about the relationships between sexual and gender identities, subjectivities, politics etc. I have attended some excellent events which supported such discussions, even recently (e.g. for Ben Nichols' fantastic Beyond Radical project). But to me it's just not acceptable, on a mailing list supposedly for critical geographic scholars and researchers, for the list to host and circulate uncritical posts which deliberately, with such great prejudice, and yet with such poor scholarship aim to cast trans people, feminists and others as the enemies of gay people.
The poster has said of themself 'I try to do some intellectual work, but I really am capable of doing limited work in that regard'. I wholeheartedly invite them to try. Try writing up some of this research for an academic journal, and see what it means to *have* to engage in careful, critical scholarship, with peer review. Their research will be dramatically improved - but they will not be able to get away with making the kinds of sweeping and unsupportable claims that they can make on a blog.
I say all of this as a gay man; as a practicing (well, in fact *extremely* good at it) homosexual; as a geographer of sexualities; as an enthusiast of explicitly gay scholarship and activism both pre- and post- Queer Theory; as someone who has become more and more critical of Queer Theory; and as the organiser of a very successful conference in 2019 ('Gayness In Queer Times') that specifically grappled with what it means to be gay when queer seems hegemonic. The conference, incidentally, was simultaneously accused of being an anti-queer conference run by gays *and* an anti-gay conference run by queers - we had a laugh!
All the average,
Nick
Dr Nick McGlynn (h/h)
Senior Lecturer in Geography @ University of Brighton
Deputy Director @ Centre for Transforming Sexuality & Genderhttps://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearch.brighton.ac.uk%2Fen%2Fpersons%2Fnicholas-mcglynn&data=05%7C02%7Chrandell-moon%40CSU.EDU.AU%7C3f753c12a0114bd6b8de08dd5b1a789a%7Cf0f76207a6104fc0b4a35d797fe5283c%7C0%7C0%7C638766891582975658%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Nuwa8LkIAr8Jh3%2BWFgiF7BPYxDEKKXLHRLYXbddjHU0%3D&reserved=0
My office hours are Wednesdays 2pm-4pm
🐻 My new book: Bodies & Boundaries of UK Bear Spaces 🐻
Free speech is now racialized into whiteness.
Re: Stand against queerphobia
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;4ba0cd17.2503
Subject: Re: Stand against queerphobia
From: Soli Levi <soli.levi@HIFMB.DE>
Reply-To: Soli Levi <soli.levi@HIFMB.DE>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2025 08:13:42 +0000
Hi Holly,
Thanks so much for sharing this fantastic paper.
I think some people equate 'creating a safe space for everyone' with coddling and not being able to say anything for fear of stepping on someone's toes and offending them. This is not the case. A safe space means everyone feels able to engage and express themselves without fear of facing discriminatory or harrassing comments. A safe space allows the voices of those who are often marginalised and/or silenced to speak up. A safe space is much more conducive to critical and reflexive debate because it encourages the vulnerability necessary to be reflexive, to speak up, and to be heard.
A safe space does not mean placating (read: coddling) the fragile egos of white men who think free speech means that we get to say whatever we want with no sense of responsibility towards others. As a wise spider-man once said, with great power comes great responsibility. If someone doesn't want to handle the responsibility that comes with the power of speech, then it's no wonder they might fall back on crying "censorship!" when faced with the consequences of their words.
I am very heartened by the fact that there is so much solidarity to be found on this list (both from these public posts and from private emails I have received). There are still glimmers of hope here and there :)
Cheers,
Soli
Before I am terminated. Reporting resources.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;77d7d0c4.2503
Subject: Before I am terminated. Reporting resources.
From: Edward Sebesta <edwardsebesta@GMAIL.COM>
Reply-To: Edward Sebesta <edwardsebesta@GMAIL.COM>
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2025 17:12:30 +0000
By tomorrow I am being banned. Evidently posting the denunciations of me in this listserv online constitutes "doxing." If not that, I am sure something will be found to censor me with the hope that it isn't called censorship.
However, I will be reporting on developments in Dallas, which is really a ground zero, for the Christian right attacking the LGBTQ+ in America. The situation is deteriorating, but I am resolved to report developments here to the end. Also, legal fees for the TQ+ need donors and i spent $2,000 last year at least. I can only imagine there will be need for financial support this coming year.
My general reporting where I am trying to conceptualize a movement for Gays outside of neoliberalism and also reporting on the current electtoral disaster is the Gay Agenda at:
The Gay Atheists need to get focused on dealing with homophobic Christianity and for them I have.
Finally, for alternative religious groups I have the Gay temple.
Running a Gay atheist group and a Gay religious group isn't at cross purposes. There needs to be an exit path for people leaving homophobic Christianity.
I should have a trigger warning that many of you might be upset by what I write.
As for my projects deracializing the landscape and reporting on race in Dallas and Texas history, I really don't have a good website. www.templeofdemocracy.com needs to be updated.
I was watching a Korean movie with a Gay bashing a few years ago, and I thought, "This really needs to stop." It had been how many years since Stonewall Riots and we still have this happening. I suspected that the movement was full of mush and ineffective actions and I found that the LGBTQ+ is an appendage of the Democratic Party, that is to say the neoliberal state.
Having eliminated discrimination against Asians in SF Gay bars., having brought down the Confederate monuments nationally with my writings and research, I figure I can crush homophobia. To do so, I think I need to be ready to think outside all the existing frameworks and sentimental restraints.
As for your attacks. My co-editor, James Loewen, wanted to submit our book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," to the Museum of the Confederacy for some Jefferson Davis medal and I said no. The denunciation and ridicule of me was intense by the fields of Southern Studies and Civil War historians. At the same time, the Sons of Confederae Veterans would condemn me in conventions and in their magazine avoiding mentioning my name, but making it clear it was me. I was their Voldemort.
Ed Sebesta
One of the long term members publishes a defense of my right to free speech, and this person wants moderators to be respected, shifting from the issue of free speech to that of respecting moderators.
It is part of a discussion chain of emails. So it is using the title of my email.
Before I am terminated. Reporting resources.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;2a60f02b.2503
Subject: Re: Before I am terminated. Reporting resources.
From: David Featherstone <David.Featherstone@GLASGOW.AC.UK>
Reply-To: David Featherstone <David.Featherstone@GLASGOW.AC.UK>
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2025 10:42:41 +0000
Hi all,
Just to say I have to say I strongly disagree with the position outlined below.
I think that its really important that the decision of moderators is respected- and I'd also like to say many thanks to Jay for raising these key issues.
All best wishes
Dave
David Featherstones email included this cranky person, Keblowsi from Poland, Hillary Shaw, and my email.
Quotes start. I think Keblowski was criticizing Hilary Shaw here who is a frequent poster.
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of Wojciech Keblowski <Wojciech.Keblowski@VUB.BE>
Sent: 06 March 2025 20:17
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Before I am terminated. Reporting resources.Honestly, regardless of your views and the content you share, would you mind reducing the amount of posts you make in this group? You’re taking much more space than anybody else… What if you sent one email weekly, or maybe even monthly, just like pretty much everybody else here?
Respectfully,
Wojciech
---
Prof. Dr Wojciech Kębłowski
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (COSMOPOLIS), Assistant ProfessorUniversité libre de Bruxelles (IGEAT), Scientific Collaborator
….
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of hillshaw@aol.com <0000004f24593c23-dmarc-request@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2025 3:15:33 PM
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Before I am terminated. Reporting resources.For what it's worth, and there are another 6,200 or more members on here who may have other opinions, I would rather Edward Sebesta NOT be banned, On the following grounds,
1) On ideological grounds, I do not support silencing unpopular opinions by banning the speaker, except in exceptional circumstances e.g. where they support agencies that would cause physical harm like slavery., colonialism, genocide, so like the Nazis. Or other genocidaires/colonialists. Yes some opinions may cause mental unease, discomfort, but I still don't think, on a purely electronic list, that would generally amount to being 'unsafe' or 'threatened'.
2) Yes he is very Christianophobic, in a broad brush way, and I would like to see this either made more specific, to the actual Churches that are homophobic (by no ,means all are), or more broader, to include other homophobic religions, there are several I can think of. However - he has called out certain Churches, lilke one this afternoon I also commented on, with its disturbing 'Blood Libel' type images of children being boiled in pots by an evil warlock.
3) He is part of a wider gender-identity based conflict, which is multi-sided,and which I am interested in following , of which the conflicting parties include the Trans faction, other Gay factions (some of whom I have heard do not fully identify with the Trans faction), some Patriarchal Straight factions (OK we do not want to support those), some Lesbian factions, and some Feminist factions. This makes for a very interesting debate.
4) Following on from (3), gender identities and tolerations / acceptances are always in flux, e.g. in Mediaeval England, attitiudes towards various sexual practices, gay and straight, were very different to now; 150, 250, years ago you could be locked up for being Gay in England, yet it was far more acceptable for men to wear (what we would now call) very feminine clothing, even long gowns, in public. Who knows where we will be at in another 100-200 years, so we need to follow this debate/comnflict, and try to influence it, as is our duty as acadmemcs, for the better. Not to silence certain of its debaters.
Finally 5) Maybe I am cold, hard, uncaring, unsympathetic, but opinions experessed on a keyboard from 100s of miles away don't generally make me feel unsafe or threatened, as they might if the person was physically in the same room with me. Unless as said (1) they are advocating genocide or similar. Angry, disturbed, yes, but not scared. And I thnk as academics we should sometimes be challenged, it is maybe not even academia if we never meet a challenge head on.
Anyway my opinions are only worth 0.016% of this list, I'm sure the other 99.984% will have theor own ideas. But fpr these reasons I do not support banning in this instance.
Dr Hillary J. Shaw
Centre for Urban Research on Austerity (CURA)
DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY
Leicester, LE1 9BH
T: 0116 257 7826
W:
http://www.fooddeserts.org
On Thursday, 6 March 2025 at 17:12:54 GMT, Edward Sebesta <edwardsebesta@gmail.com> wrote:
By tomorrow I am being banned. Evidently posting the denunciations of me in this listserv online constitutes "doxing." If not that, I am sure something will be found to censor me with the hope that it isn't called censorship.
However, I will be reporting on developments in Dallas, which is really a ground zero, for the Christian right attacking the LGBTQ+ in America. The situation is deteriorating, but I am resolved to report developments here to the end. Also, legal fees for the TQ+ need donors and i spent $2,000 last year at least. I can only imagine there will be need for financial support this coming year.
[Substack automatically opens links to Substack.]
My general reporting where I am trying to conceptualize a movement for Gays outside of neoliberalism and also reporting on the current electtoral disaster is the Gay Agenda at:
The Gay Atheists need to get focused on dealing with homophobic Christianity and for them I have.
Finally, for alternative religious groups I have the Gay temple.
Running a Gay atheist group and a Gay religious group isn't at cross purposes. There needs to be an exit path for people leaving homophobic Christianity.
I should have a trigger warning that many of you might be upset by what I write.
As for my projects deracializing the landscape and reporting on race in Dallas and Texas history, I really don't have a good website. www.templeofdemocracy.com needs to be updated.
I was watching a Korean movie with a Gay bashing a few years ago, and I thought, "This really needs to stop." It had been how many years since Stonewall Riots and we still have this happening. I suspected that the movement was full of mush and ineffective actions and I found that the LGBTQ+ is an appendage of the Democratic Party, that is to say the neoliberal state.
Having eliminated discrimination against Asians in SF Gay bars., having brought down the Confederate monuments nationally with my writings and research, I figure I can crush homophobia. To do so, I think I need to be ready to think outside all the existing frameworks and sentimental restraints.
As for your attacks. My co-editor, James Loewen, wanted to submit our book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," to the Museum of the Confederacy for some Jefferson Davis medal and I said no. The denunciation and ridicule of me was intense by the fields of Southern Studies and Civil War historians. At the same time, the Sons of Confederae Veterans would condemn me in conventions and in their magazine avoiding mentioning my name, but making it clear it was me. I was their Voldemort.
Ed Sebesta
End of denunciations
Put on Trial and termination
The Listserv owner demands a response. I am put on trial.
From: Breffni Lennon <blennon@ucc.ie>
Sent: Monday, March 3, 2025 4:56 AM
To: edwardsebesta@gmail.com
Subject: Complaints: Critical Geography Forum
Dear Edward,
I am the current ‘list owner’ of the Critical Geography Forum mailing list.
I have received several complaints regarding your post, dated 28 Feb. 2025, titled ‘Playing with numbers, Gallup 2025 vs. 2024 poll results on LGBTQ identified persons’. The complaint concerns potential hateful content / transphobia / queerphobia, e.g., your comment describing bisexuality amongst women as a ‘social contagion’.
Can you please elaborate your position regarding this post?
Kind regards,
Breffní
This is the email with the terms of the Listserv.
The is enough vague wording to justify dissenting opinion, but base it on something other than censorship of dissening opinions.
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of List owner <0000e51c64ff53ac-dmarc-request@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Monday, March 3, 2025 8:32 AM
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Terms of Service
To preserve formatting, I am not going to use Substack’s quote indicator. Quote starts here.
Terms of Service
Introduction
Welcome to the Critical Geography Forum, a professional space for users to share cutting edge, theoretically-informed geographical scholarship opposed to repressive and inequitable power relations as they relate to capital, class, colonialism, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexuality.
1.1 Purpose: This list provides a forum for the discussion of critical and radical perspectives in geography. Discussions focus on the organisational and disciplinary framework of geographical research and teaching and on critical interpretations of geographical issues. Use of our platform constitutes acceptance of these terms.
1.2 Acceptance: By using our services, you acknowledge and agree to abide by the terms outlined herein.
User Rights and Responsibilities
As a user of this forum, your contribution is respected and we expect you to be respectful to other users in turn. This forum is a safe space for users to enquire and engage in respectful discourse on the broad range of topics of interest to geographers and the geography-minded.
2.1 User Conduct: Users must at all times engage in respectful and lawful behaviour on our platform. Since this list is a space for critical discussion, differing opinions are expected. However, users must be respectful of each other at all times, including being aware of the tone of their emails. Personal attacks against a subscriber will not be tolerated. Any violation may result in consequences outlined in Section 3.
2.2 Account Responsibility: Users are responsible for maintaining the security of their accounts and ensuring responsible use.
3. Termination and Suspension
Where users have been found to have violated the following grounds for termination, or other behaviour not in keeping with the spirit of our forum, they will be removed from the list. If any list user witnesses content or experiences behaviour they find threatening, or that meets the ground of termination list below, please contact the list owner at: crit-geog-forum-request@jiscmail.ac.uk or by following the link on the list’s homepage on JISCMail.
3.1 Grounds for Termination: Users will be removed from the list if they engage in any of the following infringements:
§ Engaging in any form of hate speech. This can include scapegoating, stereotyping, stigmatisation, and the use of derogatory language considered harmful by other list members.
§ Name calling, telling another user to ‘shut up’, etc. This is a professional space and users are expected to behave accordingly.
§ Doxxing, i.e., publicly sharing of personally identifiable information about other list users without their consent.
§ Spamming the list. While this is a learning space and posting to the list is very much encouraged, before posting please consider if a majority of subscribers will appreciate receiving every email you send, i.e., are you offering them value?
3.2 Consequences: Termination may result in the user being removed from the list. Ensure compliance to enjoy uninterrupted access to our services.
4. Dispute Resolution
In cases where infringements are not clear-cut, users will engage in a mediation process facilitated by the list owner. After contacting the list owner, the list owner will endeavour to engage with the list member making the complaint to resolve the issue raised.
4.1 Mediation: Disputes will be resolved through mediation with the list owner. We believe in fair and efficient conflict resolution.
Subscribers should also refer to JiscMail's Terms of Service, which can be accessed at: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity.
Quote ends here.
My Reply to the listserv owner is on the listserv itself.
I am not going to reply privately to him by email.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;126d9a5e.2503
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 16:42:37 +0000
The listserv owner has emailed me asking me to explain a post I have made.
There will be no reply. I will not be complicit in a system of censorship.
The terms of service are written with a construction to allow censorship to be represented as something other than censorship so the censors can avoid being labeled as censors.
I suppose I should be happy that police officers haven't showed up at my door to discuss my behavior on listservs and social media.
Another pretence to ban me is found by the listserve owner.
There is a claim that I am doxing by private email.
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers <CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of List Owner <0000e51c64ff53ac-dmarc-request@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Tuesday, March 4, 2025 6:33 AM
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: Will not be complicit in my own censorship. Terms of service to represent censorship as something other than censorship.
Dear Edward,
I am disappointed by your unwillingness to engage in mediating a solution. I also want remind you that doxing (i.e., sharing list members’ personal identifiable information) is in breach of this list’s Terms of Service. It is also in breach of JISCMail’s Terms of Service. Please remove all personal identifiable information from your Substack by 5pm Friday 7 March or I will be forced to remove you from this mailing list.
Kind regards,
Breffní
My reply on the listserv
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;1b165a36.2503
Subject: What is doxing and what isn't.
From: Edward Sebesta <edwardsebesta@GMAIL.COM>
Reply-To: Edward Sebesta <edwardsebesta@GMAIL.COM>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 13:08:13 +0000
Doxing doesn' involve including in reports widely available public information. For example, if I point out that Donald J. Trump is president and is in the White House, I am not doxing him.
This is the Oxford English Dictionary definition of doxing.
An online practice of exposing personal information about others which had previously been kept private. Note the part, "previously kept private."
information which you routinely attach to emails, emails sent out on a listserv or on your webpage or in public directories isn't private.
I have no doubt that some pretext will be found to kick me off this listserv, but I will want it as clear as possible, that the real reason is that some people can't bear dissenting opinions.
I haven't called anyone any names, despite provocation. So I don't see the need for "mediation." I think the use of "mediation" by this listserv is rather Orwellian.
Ed
Updated Terms of Service is issued, undoubtedly to target me, I use them to file a complaint against the person.
They have started to update the terms of service, but they didn’t point out the differences from the old terms of service. I suspect that it is something handcrafted or bespoke to deal with me.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;b89c217c.2503
Subject: Updated Terms of Service
From: List Owner <blennon@UCC.IE>
Reply-To: List Owner <blennon@UCC.IE>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 12:39:59 +0000
Dear colleagues,
In light of recent feedback regarding this list's Terms of Service, please see below updated wording which we will be following going forward.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
Breffní
The quote starts here. I am not using Substack’s indication of a quote to preserve the formatting of the terms.
Terms of Service
Introduction
Welcome to the Critical Geography Forum, a professional space for users to share cutting edge, theoretically-informed geographical scholarship opposed to repressive and inequitable power relations as they relate to capital, class, colonialism, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexuality.
1.1 Purpose: This list provides a forum for the discussion of critical and radical perspectives in geography. Discussions focus on the organisational and disciplinary framework of geographical research and teaching and on critical interpretations of geographical issues. Use of our platform constitutes acceptance of these terms.
1.2 Acceptance: By using our services, you acknowledge and agree to abide by the terms outlined herein.
User Rights and Responsibilities
As a user of this forum, your contribution is respected and we expect you to be respectful to other users in turn. This forum is a safe space for users to enquire and engage in respectful discourse on the broad range of topics of interest to geographers and the geography-minded.
2.1 User Conduct: Users must at all times engage in respectful and lawful behaviour on our platform. Since this list is a space for critical discussion, differing opinions are expected. However, users must be respectful of each other at all times, including being aware of the tone of their emails. Personal attacks against a subscriber will not be tolerated. Any violation may result in consequences outlined in Section 3.
2.2 Evidence-based discussion: If users wish to engage in discussions where the topic is not your area of expertise you must support your position with evidence-based research. Similarly, expressions of personal opinion must be supported by evidence-based research. Not doing so will likely lead to the user not being taken seriously by the rest of the community. Members have a right to call out or object to poorly-researched posts. Also, members have a right to ignore posts.
2.3 Account Responsibility: Users are responsible for maintaining the security of their accounts and ensuring responsible use.
3. Termination and Suspension
Where users have been found to have violated the following grounds for termination, or other behaviour not in keeping with the spirit of our forum, they will be removed from the list. If any list user witnesses content or experiences behaviour they find threatening, or that meets the ground of termination list below, please contact the list owner at: crit-geog-forum-request@jiscmail.ac.uk or by following the link on the list’s homepage on JISCMail.
3.1 Grounds for Termination: Users will be removed from the list if they engage in any of the following infringements:
Engaging in any form of hate speech. This can include scapegoating, stereotyping, stigmatisation, and the use of derogatory language considered harmful by other list members.
Name calling, telling another user to ‘shut up’, etc. This is a professional space and users are expected to behave accordingly.
Doxxing, i.e., publicly sharing of personally identifiable information about other list users without their consent.
Spamming the list. While this is a learning space and posting to the list is very much encouraged, before posting please consider if a majority of subscribers will appreciate receiving every email you send, i.e., are you offering them value?
3.2 Consequences: Termination may result in the user being removed from the list. Ensure compliance to enjoy uninterrupted access to our services.
4. Dispute Resolution
In cases where infringements are not clear-cut, users will engage in a mediation process facilitated by the list owner. After contacting the list owner, the list owner will endeavour to engage with the list member making the complaint to resolve the issue raised.
4.1 Mediation: Disputes will be resolved through mediation with the list owner. We believe in fair and efficient conflict resolution.
Quote ends here.
My complaint is filed.
We see that though I have been respectful and the others abusive, these rules are selectively enforced.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;6c549e5b.2503
Subject: Re: Updated Terms of Service
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2025 06:54:41 -0600
I would like to report that users have posted terms on this listserv calling me “poisonous,” “ignorant,” and other terms. I would like to see that they apologize or be subject to the consequences of these terms of service. Or are these terms to be used to shut out unpopular opinions only.
2.1 User Conduct: Users must at all times engage in respectful and lawful behaviour on our platform. Since this list is a space for critical discussion, differing opinions are expected. However, users must be respectful of each other at all times, including being aware of the tone of their emails. Personal attacks against a subscriber will not be tolerated. Any violation may result in consequences outlined in Section 3.
This is under grounds for termination.
§ Name calling, telling another user to ‘shut up’, etc. This is a professional space and users are expected to behave accordingly.
TERMINATED
Your removal from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list
From: JISCMAIL LISTSERV Server (16.5) <LISTSERV@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 11:01 AM
To: edwardsebesta@GMAIL.COM
Cc: Breffn í Lennon
Subject: Your removal from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list
You have been removed from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list (A forum for critical
and radical geographers). The change was carried out by a list
administrator, this may be a list owner or the JiscMail helpline help@jisc.ac.uk
Listserve post rationalization that terminating me wasn’t censorship even though it was.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;5c09dde3.2503
Subject: Removal of a member of the community from subscribership
From: List Owner
Reply-To: List Owner
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2025 17:01:26 +0000
Dear colleagues,
I have, this afternoon, removed a member of the community from subscribership.
This member, in objection to comments from other members regarding their content, publicly posted transcript, including personal email addresses, to an external website. Whilst the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM archives themselves remain publicly accessible, such contact information is automatically obfuscated to non-members, by JiscMail, so not subject to public consumption. By posting the transcript in this manner, this member has circumvented the controls that were put in place to safeguard other users.
I had requested that the member remove the personally identifiable content from their website, but this has not been actioned. As a result, and to reduce the likelihood of recurrence, I have now removed the member, and their access to it.
Please note, that this was not, in any way, to censor this individual’s content or views, exploit any authority I may have within the list (in support of my personal opinions), or to polarise the views of this community; the action was taken to protect the interests of the members.
CRIT-GEOG-FORUM has a long history of encouraging educated debate of potentially divisive topics, and this is emphasised in the recent amendments to the Terms of Service. Members may offer personal opinion, but be prepared to receive rebuttal, and provide evidence to support your claims.
I will not post a link to the external content in the public forum, in an effort to minimise any potential impact so far as possible, however if any member is particularly concerned about their contact information having been published, and is unable to locate the post themselves, please feel free to drop me a line via crit-geog-forum-request@jiscmail.ac.uk.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Breffní
My complaint sent by email to JISC about my termination.
Subject: Removed from the JISC list for ideological reasons, having dissenting views.
From: edwardsebesta@gmail.com
To: help@jisc.ac.uk
Date: Friday, 3/7/2025.
Dear JISC:
I was removed from the JISC list for Critical Geography for dissenting views.
There are vague reasons which are given, and shifting reasons. An email from the list owner said that when I posted the denunciations of me made in the listserv that it was doxing.
This was information which is public on the listserv and is public on their webpage. If I pointed out that the Charles III was the king of England and lived at Buckingham Palace, it wouldn’t be doxing.
Saying that I can’t share denunciations of myself to others is truly a Star Chamber practice.
The whole affair is documented here.
https://edwardhsebesta.substack.com/p/posts-on-the-critical-geography-listserv-789
I ask to be re-instated and further receive a formal apology and that the List Owner, Breffni, be removed from the position of List Owner.
I resent this bullying. I will take steps to make people reflect that ideological bullying isn’t acceptable.
If you were privately funded you of course could have your own policies based on ideolog. However, you are a supposedly a public function funded by public money.
It is unwise to set a precedent for arbitrary practices. British scholars could be banned from the United States.
I plan to escalate this quickly, so a timely good faith response is needed. Some response which is a mystery in interpretation or a masterpiece in rationalizations won’t be appreciated.
Edward H. Sebesta
Subject: Jisc Ticket CS-00452155: Removed from the JISC list for ideological reasons, having dissenting views.
From: Jisc Service Desk <help@jisc.ac.uk>
To: edwardsebesta@gmail.com
Date: Friday, 3/7/2025.
Thank you for contacting the Jisc Service Desk support team. This is an automated message to confirm receipt of your email. A member of our team will reply to your query as soon as possible.
Jisc Ticket CS-00452155 has been created for this query, with the following details:
Subject: Removed from the JISC list for ideological reasons, having dissenting views.Please reply to this email with any updates, so that we can track progress. Alternatively, if you would like to speak to someone about this query, please contact us on the number below, quoting your ticket reference.
Best regards,
Jisc Service Desk
Tel: 0300 300 2212
E-mail: help@jisc.ac.uk
Reply from JISC
Subject: RE: Removed from the JISC list for ideological reasons, having dissenting views. CS-00452155 [ ref:!00Dw00nN2S.!500QC0JaGwH:ref ]
From: Jisc Service Desk <help@jisc.ac.uk>
To: edwardsebesta@gmail.com
Date: Monday, 3/10/2025
Dear Edward,
Thank you for your recent correspondence.
Having reviewed your comments, the trail on both your Substack page, and the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM itself, and spoken to the List Owner, we are satisfied that the actions taken were timely and appropriate.
Your exit from the list was the result of your (self-admitted) refusal to engage with the List Owner, and remove personally identifiable information (personal email addresses) from your Substack posts. This information, whilst accessible to subscribers, is deliberately masked to the wider un-registered internet, for the protection of those posting commentary. By including this in your Substack post, you, perhaps inadvertently, exposed this protected information to unauthorised users. It is our understanding that this is the "doxxing" to which the List Owner was referring.
After bringing the incident to your attention, you failed to comply with the List Owner's request for you to remove it, making this a deliberate act. Following a second request from the List Owner, the content remained, so, in order to comply with their obligations as Data Controller for the list, the decision was made to limit the potential for further damage by removing your access.
I also note that, following your removal, the List Owner has provided notification to the community, outlining their reasons, and emphasising a commitment to fair, balanced debate. Posts from other members on the list seem to largely support this decision.
Ultimately, as Data Controller, the management and moderation of the list's members and content is the responsibility of the List Owner(s). Providing they continue to adhere to our Terms of Service - in particular, Section 4 ("Role of List Owners") (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/index.html#4), we have no reason to object to their decisions or take further action.
Kind regards,
Mark Smith
Service Operations Manager
JiscMail
Short reply to JISC justification of my termination.
RE: Removed from the JISC list for ideological reasons, having dissenting views. CS-00452155 [ ref:!00Dw00nN2S.!500QC0JaGwH:ref ]
From: edwardsebesta@gmail.com
To: help@jisc.ac.uk
Date: Monday, 3/10/2025
Dear Mr. Smith:
There was no need for the List Owner to engage me regarding my posts. The issue was merely that some members strongly disliked my posts. The so-called “mediation” was really putting me on trial and start interrogating me. The wording of the request for mediation was vague. Also, when I pointed out that that I wasn’t going to be complicit in aiding the suppression of my viewpoints, I got no reply in regards to that.
As for posting the denunciations, the emails sent to the list serve are broadcast to the world, and also are on a person’s academic pages. I didn’t post any office locations or addresses. The first claim that it was doxing is ridiculous. To expect to be able denounce someone vehemently and then have it kept secret is really too much.
Also, I think it is unreasonable to think that I might be denounced in secret. I thought the British were done with Star Chamber procedures, but evidently not. Also, I know that some rational would be found one way or another to ban me, and so I was going to make sure the unsavory behavior of JISC and the list serve owner were on record.
The reasons given for my banning are vague and just rationalizations to censor me, but give some rational so it can be claimed that it isn’t censorship.
In short, I have been dealt with in bad faith.
I am sending this reply not expecting any justice, but so that it can’t be claimed in the future that JISC wasn’t told, or I failed to give them some type of input.
My posts also reveal the nature of British academics as being repressive and oppressive of dissenting opinions, with Orwellian methods to achieve its goals.
Edward H. Sebesta
Letter to Heidi Fraser-Krauss Jisc Chief Executive Officer
April 19, 2025
Edward H. Sebesta
[Address redacted.]
Dallas, Texas [Zipcode redacted.]
United States of America
edwardsebesta@gmail.com
Heidi Fraser-Krauss Chief Executive Officer
Jisc
4 Portwall Lane
Bristol
BS1 6NB
Dear Heidi Fraser-Krauss
I was banned from the CRIT-GEOGE-FORUM on March 7, 2025.
CRIT-GEOG-FORUM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
The entire history of the abusive, manipulative and censorious treatment I have documented in a Substack post at this link.
https://edwardhsebesta.substack.com/p/posts-on-the-critical-geography-listserv-789
On March 3, 2025, the listserv moderator Breffni Lennon emailed a demand that I explain my opinion given that he had heard complaints about my opinion. People made scathing denunciations.
I saw an attempt to find one pretext or another to ban me, so I included these denunciations in a Substack post. I wasn’t going to allow a Star Chamber proceeding against me, and if you are denouncing someone, I think you should expect it to be of public record.
So the listserv seized on this as a reason to ban me. The emails contain ordinary information which is on people’s own university webpage. JISC called I doxing. If I say that Donald J. Trump is president and lives at the White House, am I doxing Trump.
Services which engage in censorship aren’t support functions for academic discourse and such services have no justification for funding by government or academic institutions since they aren’t providing the service they claim to be providing.
Further a partisan political service shouldn’t be funded by the government.
I ask that I be reinstated o the Critical Geography listserv and no subject to further harassment, and Breffni Lennon removed as moderator of the Listserve.
Sincerely Yours,
Edward H. Sebesta
CC. Nicola Arnold, Alice Colban, Jayne Davies, Liam Earney, Robin Ghurbhurn, Rob Phillpotts, Andrew Woods.
I mailed copies of the letter to Fraser-Krauss well as the first page of this post to the following.
Unherd, Spiked, Telegraph, The Scotsman, and The Sun. I would have mailed to more publications, but I couldn’t find a mailing address for them for press releases or submissions.
Posts March 1st to 7th by me not involving denunciations or putting me on trial.
I was kicked off the listserv for my review of some Gallup Poll numbers.
Maps of measles vaccination rates by county for Texas.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;5d74ce07.2503
Subject:Maps of measles vaccination rates by county for Texas.
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2025 16:15:53 +0000
The Dallas Morning News is providing some graphics about measles vaccination rates by county as part of the current epidemic of measles which is increasing rapidly. The requirement for herd immunity is 95%. Most of the counties of Texas is below that.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2025/02/27/measles-outbreak-these-graphics-show-vaccination-rates-in-texas/
The mayor of Lubbock, Texas in Lubbock County, has just given a warning for people not to have "measles parties." Given that the have a vaccinaion rate of 92.3%, it is good advice, whether it will be followed is another thing.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/02/texas-official-warns-against-measles-parties-as-outbreak-keeps-growing/
The map of vaccination rates has many things that might not be expected.
The counties with 100% vaccination rates are sparsely populated counties. Also, some of the counties with low vaccination rates are sparsely populated. Foard County has 1,095 people living there, at least for now, with a vaccination rate of 66.7%. I think it is that with small populations a county might be all for or all against vaccination. Several counties near the Rio Grande are 100% vaccinated. These are sparsely populated but also Hispanic.
Some of the rural counties, like Nagadoches County, where its major city Nagadoches doesn't have a 4-lane highway going to it, has a vaccination rate of 96.5% whereas Dallas County with all is vanity, and where I live, has a vaccination rate of 94.3%.
The center of the current outbreak is centered in Gaines county with a vaccination rate of 82%. It is heavily populated by Mennonites and has a high rate of vaccine exemptions rate. Our local paper attempts to downplay the role of religion in this outbreak. Mennonites are a highly fragmented religious faith and so there is some Mennonite that can be found to have some belief if you need to cherry pick.
Given that antivaxxer Robert F. Kenndy Jr. is in charge of the national government's response there are concerns whether effective actions will be taken against the measles oubreak as well as possible future panemics.
I have two newsletters with a total subscription and followers of 1,639.
I have of course urged them to get vaccinated while it is still possible. Though RFK Jr. has said that he won't ban vaccines, it remains to be seen what other policies might be implemened such that insurance won't cover vaccination or other means taken to prevent vaccination.
I also, yesterday, had newsletter posts about other measures during a pandemic to reduce risk besides vaccination, because a vaccine might not be available. Also, what I learned during the covid pandemic. They will run out of masks, bleach, and IPA.
These are practical actions that anyone might use.
Outside the hot houses of queer studies there are real consequences for real communities of people of political actions.
Mobilizing against anti-drag protests in a community. Fighting back in the belly of the beast, not in the hothouses of ideology.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;bc3c2502.2503
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2025 19:47:08 +0000
It might be thought easy to mobilize a defense of drag shows and to get coverage. The realiy is that it is constant prodding and pushing.
This is my reporting on the anti-drag protest that was substantial at BuzzBrew. You can see that to get the video, I had to film standing wih the fascist groups. The Dallas Police gave me an annoying lecture on avoiding them afterwards.
Despite my best efforts I was not able to get our local Stonewall Democrats to show up as a group with their benner. They decided to show up "as individuals," allowing them to say they supported the counter-protests in support of Drag without actually getting their name involved. The Stonewall Democrats have all the correct opinions, but in the end, they weren't willing to show as a group with their banner.
This is my directory of the protests and reports on hostilities against drag at BuzzBrew.
Neither of our Gay City council members showed up though requested to do so. However, our Gay State Rep. showup and two city council people.
I have a series of posts covering local reactionary attacks on drag shows, though the frequency has dropped alot sometimes back. All the drag venues outside the Dallas Gayborhood have been shut down and the shows in the Gayborhood don't allow children.
They are now targeting museums and there is a witchcraft store in Fort Worth which has LGBT events.
When the Libs of Tiktok targeted local cross-dressing school teacher, Rachmad Tjachyadi, eventually driven from his job, it took a long time to get the local Gay paper to cover it, even though it was being reported globally. The paper didn't put it in their print editions. I never got the Stonewall dems to say anything. I ended up donating $1,000 for Rachmad's legal bills.
Later, our Texas State Senator, Royce West voted for an anti-drag bill. This got a lot of negative feedback from the LGBT in the community.
However, State Senator, Royce West, said it was an accident and went to a meeting where he let the local LGBT vent and explained to them that he had made a mistake.
Our local LGBTQXYZ+ spent a considerable effort to explain that it was a mistake and Royce West was okay.
Being the hateful person I am, I didn't accept the excuses.
It turns out that I had written a letter on Jan. 3, 2023 long before his "accidental" vote for the anti-drag vote explaining the issues.
After State Sen. Royce West voted for the anti-drag bill and the local LGBTQXYZ+ pronunced his apology acceptable, but hateful person I am, I did posts pointing out how his excuse that it was an accident wasn't valid.
There was a whole series of protests at Stedfast Baptist church which calls for the execution of Gays.
Through coverage by my newsletter, and the use of reddit to distribute my posts, I got the local major daily, Dallas Morning News, to cover it.
A perusal of my Dallas Gay Liberation shows extensive documentation of religious homophobia, because I am here in Dallas, Texas.
I am in the trenches here fighting in the very belly of the beast. There is a different perspective than the ideological hothouses of queer theory.
If I am still on the listserv I will have posts here.
I agree, it feels like queer is not at all about gay. Thank you for sharing the good and the hard. ❤️