gAyCP: Five Years Later

KLONDIKE, CP Army Media Headquarters ─ Five years on from a report that explored the prevalence and acceptance of LGBT+ members in Club Penguin Armies, we ask the same questions to discover whether we are truly an accepting community or not. 

–

Warning: This post contains strong language that some viewers may find disturbing. 

Five Years Ago

This post has been inspired by one that was written five years ago by Albaro Lord on CP Army Central, titled ‘gAyCP’ (click here to read it). His look at the LGBT+ community has been the one and only in our 15 year history, and it revealed there was a small but significant presence in the army community.

At his time of writing in 2015, Albaro Lord revealed Club Penguin Armies were made up of a largely Christian player-base, with the majority of members from countries that mostly accept LGBT+ people. The following is a short excerpt, describing the distribution of our community by religion and country:

The top five countries [in the community] are the countries dominated by the Christian religion, and even though many of these people are now beginning to accept LGBT people, many are still far from it. Then we see countries like India and Pakistan. These countries in general are absolutely against LGBT. You can be disowned from your family, thrown in jail, and even killed in these countries if you identify yourself as LGBT.

His post then went on to address the influential figures of the community that publicly identified as LGBT+, and questioned whether or not them ‘coming out’ earlier would have affected their successes. This included army legends Mchappy and Shaboomboom, who came out as gay and bisexual after their leadership tenure. The only other CP Army Central legend to come out publicly at the time was Underground Mafias Army legend Wgfv. But would these figures still have had a successful army career if they came out earlier? Most probably. However, this doesn’t excuse the presence of homophobic attitudes five years ago that meant there were a lot less openly LGBT+ members. As shown in the original post, Light Troops leader Waterkid100 stated he would ban anyone gay from this army, and even compared gay people to paedophiles.

–

Five Years Later

Five years on from this post, we find ourselves in a completely new community. We have adapted ourselves by establishing new leagues and communities on private servers, and the use of discord instead of xat. Not only this, but there is a significantly more active LGBT+ community today. This could be put down to many of the old ‘veterans’ having grown up and “discovering who they are as people”. Not only is this a thing to be celebrated, but it also paves the way for younger members to be confident and accepting of themselves. The power of this community, due to its online nature, means we can escape our real lives and “pretend to be someone we’re not”. This escapism has allowed many to surround themselves and open up to people online before gaining the courage to do so in real life.

There is a wealth of LGBT+ members in our community today, with the People’s Imperial Confederation lead by Sidie9, who identifies as transgender and lesbian. Likewise, many armies  have gone above and beyond to support the LGBT+ community. This past weekend, the Army of Club Penguin held a ‘Diversity Parade’ to celebrate the individuals of their army. This support is not seen in every army, however, and it begs the question: Is indifference the same as support? Are army leaders that simply state, “It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight”, doing enough? Should they be active allies or is ‘turning a blind eye’ the way to ensure equality? 

May 9th: ACP’s Diversity Parade

–

Where are we now?

As Albaro Lord stated in his original post, sexual orientation doesn’t make a difference to a person’s ability to be successful in the Club Penguin Army community. The real question is: how do armies view LGBT members? Do they actively support them? Are they indifferent? Or are they against them? This will, of course, be varied due to the diverse range of people in the community, with different backgrounds, beliefs and views. 

I took to the Discord servers of the armies in this community to see what the LGBT+ representation was like in the 2020 community. I spoke to troops, army leaders and higher command figures, posing a simple question: “If a gay, lesbian or bisexual person came out in your army, would you treat them the same as any other member?” It’s safe to say the results were extremely revealing. 

The Templars offered the most shocking response. Creator and leader Xing said homosexuals should “get the f*** out” of the army after one of his soldiers came out as pansexual on the main chat.  After this troop explained what pansexual meant, another troop encouraged for them to receive a demotion. 

In a direct message conversation, Xing said he “couldn’t care less” if someone came out as LGBT+, but they would be immediately banned if they “flaunted their gayness everywhere”. When further questioned, he said LGBT+ members must “act like normal people, and not r*****”.

Next, two members of the Help Force revealed they were in fact LGBT+ and described the army as very welcoming.

Special Weapons and Tactics leader, Badboy, gave a resounding yes in support of LGBT+ army members, stating sexuality and gender is not judged in his army.

Army of CP leader CSY detailed his army’s endeavour to promote and support the many LGBT+ members, including guardian Mchappy, former leader Koloway and second-in-command Max.

Click to enlarge.

The Doritos, Kings, Lime Green Army, Os Mascarados, Pizza Federation and Golden Guardians all gave a pro-LGBT+ stance.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Chaos leader Zero said his army accepts LGBT+ members, but also that he believes it is no one’s business to know a person’s sexuality. Is this a show of support or lack of understanding, as it could be argued many LGBT+ members want to open up to their friends and community?

Click to enlarge.

Night Warriors leader Dino made it clear the army supports LGBT+ members, and that one of their leaders is in fact bisexual. This came after a moderator in the army was stopped from announcing his homophobic attitudes to me. This did not stop said moderator from mocking the questioning by pretending to be homosexual, showing a complete lack of sensitivity.

–

So, how far have we come in the last five years? It is overwhelmingly apparent that the LGBT+ community in armies has significantly increased, with many older players identifying their sexuality at an older age, and younger ones feeling confident to open up. Although five years ago the community was relatively accepting, it seems we have developed on the whole, with most armies providing a safe and inclusive environment for all troops regardless of their identities. It is, however, disappointing to see some homophobic and bigoted attitudes still existing in some armies. Change in both society and this army community may be slow, but it is occurring.

People may hate you for being different and not living by society’s standards, but deep down, they wish they had the courage to do the same.

–

What do YOU think? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

–

Max

CP Army Media Editor-in-Chief

Advertisement