Rules

General

These chats are for trans, non-binary and gender-questioning youth and young people in Switzerland between the ages of 12 and 30. If you want to join the chats you can contact jugend@tgns.ch. Here, you can find our rules.

Short version of the rules

– Chat content stays in the chat

– Trigger warnings must be made before talking about sensitive topics. Use the siren emoji 🚨 and name the topic e.g.: surgery, self-harm, suicide and suicidal thoughts, sex, biological body functions (erection, menstruation, etc.).

– Everyone may say stop

– Before you send someone a private message, you must ask in the group chat if the person agrees to it

– No means no

– Be friendly, no provocation, listen to admins

– Crises do not belong in the chat – contact 147 or du-bist-du.ch

– The admins can kick you out if you break the rules.

– If you have read the rules, inform the person you texted with, then you can enter the chat.

Only trans people

This chat for people who do not (fully) identify with their gender assigned at birth (for example: binary or non-binary trans people, agender, genderfluid, …), and also for gender-questioning people who are not (yet) sure. Never out other people unless they agree.

Content remains safe!

What is discussed in the chat stays in the chat!

This includes that you don’t forward things, screenshots from the chat or contact details to others. Do not let people who are not part of the chat read them. If you want to talk about something that happened in the chats you can do so if you don’t give away any names or references about the people involved. If your guardians search your messages, you should delete and archive the chats beforehand. Chat messages should not be visible on your lock screen.

Respectful interaction

Be friendly to each other. Follow the instructions of the admins. Crises/topics like self harm and suicide do not belong in the chat, we are not trained for that and cannot help you. You are welcome to text or call 147, the checkpoints at mycheckpoint.ch or du-bist-du.ch. If your crisis is related to trans issues and you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

No misgendering

To make everyone feel comfortable, we will address each other by our preferred name and pronouns. If you are unsure how somebody wants you to refer to them just ask kindly.

Youth Protection

In order to protect younger members topics such as alcohol, drugs, violence and pornography can’t be discussed in the chats.

Responsibility to the outside world

There are some professionals who know a lot about trans issues and can help you. You are welcome to talk about them in the chat. However, do so in a way that won’t get them in trouble. For example: talking about how quickly you’ve got the diagnosis is nothing that should be discussed. There is no competition to see who can get a diagnosis the fastest.

Content warning

Some topics are not equally harmless for everyone and can trigger unpleasant memories. We do not want to ban these, yet they have to be announced by using a siren emoji (🚨).

You must always use warnings for these topics:

Sex (but not sexuality in general)

Surgery

Biological body functions (e.g. menstruation, erection, etc.)

Self-harm

Suicide and suicidal thoughts

If in doubt we recommend to use rather more than less warnings. The first post on a possibly triggering topic must start with a 🚨 siren and the topic. After that follows a very short description, leave two blank lines and then write the message. All following messages, which refer to a message with warning, must begin with the 🚨 siren and title or description!

Template: Example:

Template:	Example:
🚨Main topic	🚨surgery
content resp. subtopic	top surgery
(blank line)
(blank line)
Text with request follows after two	Hey all!
blank lines.	I am looking for…

Shared responsibility

Everyone is allowed to say stop if they feel something is going wrong. If that doesn’t help, you should report it to the admins. When you write something, remember that many others are reading it.

Before you text someone privately, you have to ask them in a group chat if they are okay with you doing so.

Stay careful when texting privately. Respect each other’s boundaries, use trigger warnings if necessary and agree on what topica you want to talk about. If you want personal counseling, it is better to contact a Checkpoint, du-bist-du.ch, 147 or your therapist – they can usually help you better than your friends. Specialists can handle extreme situations more appropriately than laymen.

If you are embarrassed about a question, you can ask an admin to post is anonymously in the chats.

We want the information in the chats to be as accurate as possible. Only answer if you are certain. If you are not sure, wait and see. The group is large enough – someone will know the answer for sure.

Anyone who is unhappy with things that are going on in the chats should report it to the admins. The admins can then react.

Sanctions

If the rules are violated, at least two admins have to assess the violation. The discussion for this takes place in the admin chat and the decision is communicated personally to the persons concerned. Depending on the case, this decision can also be communicated in the group chat, if it leads to calming the situation.

The following is a guideline, but is negotiable:

Violation: warning via PN to the person with an explanation of what went wrong.
Violation: explanation of the violation and exclusion from chat for 1 week.
Violation: permanent exclusion from chats

We do not want to exclude anyone, but we think that the well-being of the group should be put above the well-being of the individual participants.

In urgent cases, a sole member of the chat admins may exclude a participant immediately. This decision will be evaluated by the admin team within one week.

Trans is beautiful

Being trans is beautiful! If you have read the rules and agree to abide by them, just text the title of this section to the admin who made you aware of the rules.

Chats

Hauptchat (Main Chat, Language: Swiss German, German, other languages allowed)

The main chat is for all trans-related discussions that do not violate the rules. Introductions and everyday conversations should stay in the Hang & Spam, so that the main chat doesn’t become too busy. But you are also allowed to share nice things here. It is important that everyone helps to make sure that no questions get lost.

Events (Language: German, other languages allowed)

The second chat “Events” is only for events and occasions specifically for trans/queer people. Everyone is allowed to write when and where events take place and can ask for participation or details. You may write if you want to participate in the event. Everything else, e.g. if someone cannot participate, does not belong in this chat but in the Hang & Spam chat.

The idea of the event chat is that we can easily see when members are at certain places/events, where and when these are and if someone wants to join.

Hang & Spam (Language: Swiss German, German, other languages allowed)

The “Hang & Spam” chat exists to relieve the main chat. Here you can share anything that fits the group rules: cat GIFs, the weather outside your window or you not feeling like studying for the French exam – if you want to talk about it, someone in Hang & Spam is sure to have an open ear for you. The introduction round also has its place here.

Femby (Language: Swiss German, German, other languages allowed)

This chat is meant for transfeminine or amab people to come together and share resources. All are welcome who feel as though they could profit from the chat. Being amab is not a condition. All transfeminine questions may also be asked in the main chat.

Enby (Language: Swiss German, German, other languages allowed)

This chat exists for all people who can’t or don’t want to (completely) fit into the binary gender categories, or are not sure if they do. Topics such as naming, gender-neutral words, finding one’s identity, coming out stories, and anything else related to non-binary gender identities can be discussed. Questions which are primarily related to amab or afab topics should not predominate, and spam belongs in the spam chat. Non-binary topics may and should continue to be discussed in the main chat.

Menby (Language: Swiss German, German, other languages allowed)

This chat is meant for transmasculine or afab people to come together and share resources. All are welcome who feel as though they could profit from the chat – non-binary people are explicitly welcomed! Being afab is not a condition. Ideally transmasculine stuff such as testosterone, mastectomy etc. should be discussed here in order to relieve the main chat. The above rules also apply to the Menby. This chat should remain as spam-free as possible.

English (Language: English, other languages allowed)

This chat is for english- speaking people. The general group rules, like content warnings (🚨) apply here too. Spam is generally allowed, except if there is an important discussion going on. Trans topics go before spam!

ü25 (Language: Swiss German, German, other languages allowed)

This chat is for everyone over 25. Attention – the rules concerning the “protection of minors” are not applied in this chat. The rules regarding content warnings are more relaxed. If content warnings are desired in this chat, it should be announced when entering the chat. Spam is allowed except for when important discussions are taking place. Trans topics before spam applies.

This service is provided by the youth group of the Transgender Network Switzerland.

The youth group is responsible for the timeliness and accuracy.