Dear IFPA Administrators,

I am writing to you as a member of the pinball community, an avid pinball lover, a women’s league organizer, a social worker who works specifically with queer and trans youth who are devastated by the current global climate, and a human being who is crushed by the rise of transphobia in our communities and the seemingly unconcerned response from so many "allies." When the IFPA put out their gender inclusion policy shortly after Trump’s election, I cheered. I shared it with so many people. I was so proud of my extended community and their willingness to uphold the right of my fellow community members to participate, without barriers or prejudice, in the pinball community. That statement acknowledged the necessity of a governing body taking proactive steps to ensure inclusion and event safety.

I felt that way this morning—until I read about the horrifying events at the OBX Fall pinball tournament. Confirmed accounts state that a trans woman was subjected to targeted, verbal transphobic harassment by a tournament host, refused entry, followed into the bathroom, and threatened with law enforcement solely for attending a pinball tournament, expected to last many hours, and wanting to use a bathroom. This severe act of discrimination led the affected player and other members of the queer community to rightfully prioritize their safety and withdraw from the competition. The tournament director downloaded the management of this situation to two other tournament directors, both trans women, who were slated to direct the following day’s tournament. They did their best to manage a situation and find a compromise—while surely reeling from the transphobic violence themselves—until [REDACTED] misgendered one of these women by calling her "sir." This failure to protect a player from an act of hate on-site is a direct contravention of the safety and inclusion standards the IFPA is meant to enforce.

While that would be awful in itself, the lack of meaningful solidarity from the IFPA leadership, as well as their disregard for the unanimous advice of the Women's Advisory Board, tells me that the IFPA does not actually care about the values it so loudly stated. Rather than listen to the Women's Advisory Board's advice, they chose not to remove the sanctioning of this event. They allowed players, who just continued playing while this hate crime and transphobic violence continued, to benefit from WPPRs that were not meaningfully possible to achieve for queer and trans pinball players who had also planned to participate in this event.

Given the current political climate, especially in the United States, I have been so proud that trans women, gender non-conforming folks, and queer folks can find refuge in pinball where they don’t have to look over their shoulder for threats but can, instead, sink into the embrace of a community that has loudly embraced inclusivity. To use the words of the current discussion in the IFPA discord, a space free from this "horseshit." Apparently, instead, though the meme "horsepiss" is trending to say that, not only are we not free from this horseshit, the IFPA is basically going to piss on us. Promise to support us and then... not.

The governing body, the IFPA, must ensure that the inclusive environment it claims to champion is enforced at every sanctioned event. When a sanctioned event becomes a site of harassment and exclusion, it signals to vulnerable community members that:

The IFPA's inclusion policy is merely performative.
They cannot expect event organizers to enforce the rules.
They will not be protected by the organization they look to for leadership.
I implore you to listen to your Women’s Advisory Board and follow your own statements. In order to be a sanctioned IFPA event, the event must be open to everyone regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or background. In 2020, while I attended the first Ontario Women’s Provincial Championship, Adam Becker, Director of the IFPA, sat with the 16 women who earned the right to play in this tournament. He listened to us discuss, in great detail, the psychological and emotional barriers to women’s full participation in pinball. He listened to us; I could feel it. And, yet, this same man made the unilateral decision to allow this tournament, where active violence occurred, to remain sanctioned despite the voices of the women on his own advisory board.

Given the current trajectory of anti-trans sentiment, it is reasonable to expect that such incidents will continue to occur unless clear, forceful boundaries are set now. You have an opportunity to communicate to tournament directors that you mean it and are prepared to enforce the inclusivity guidelines. If you insist by removing WPPRs, even folks who aren’t invested in equity and inclusion will want to ensure events maintain this guideline to protect the WPPRs and travel dollars of those who attended. You are setting the expectations in this decision.

I urge the IFPA to immediately remove sanctioning from this event and to be clear that this is the standard tournament directors should expect. I implore Adam Becker to issue a public explanation for his previous choice and to make an unequivocal statement that reinforces your stated commitment to inclusion. This step would:

Validate the victims: It would signal to the victims of harassment, transphobic violence, and being threatened with police that the IFPA believes them and is willing to take real action.
Protect the community: It would send a clear, trickling-down message to all event organizers and players that hate and transphobia will not be tolerated in any IFPA-sanctioned space—not just lip service but meaningful repercussions to all participants.
Uphold your own policy: It would finally align your actions with the welcoming gender inclusion policy you previously authored and that so many of us were so proud of.
Please consider the impact your decisions have on the lives and safety of queer and trans players, who should feel nothing but excitement and belonging when walking into an IFPA-sanctioned event.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this critical matter.  I invite those who agree with what I've stated in principal to sign below and, if they have one, add their IFPA number.