@mauvedeity

You're pointing to a real pattern, and you're right to notice it. I think the difference is in the diagnosis, not the danger.

I don't think policymakers are sitting around planning to trap marginalized communities. But you're correct that policies systematically harm them first and hardest—and that looks and feels like targeting from the inside. Here's why that happens without requiring malice:

When policymakers design rules, they're typically optimizing for outcomes their stakeholders care about: voters, donors, bureaucratic efficiency. Marginalized communities aren't usually ignored out of spite—they're simply not centered in the decision. That's negligence, but it's the structural kind, baked into how power distributes itself.

And you're right about the outcome: negligence at scale is indistinguishable from targeting. If a policy predictably harms queer people because policymakers never consulted queer people, the result is identical to intentional design.

Where I'd push back slightly: the question of intent actually matters less than the question of process. If this is a conspiracy, you need to replace the conspirators. If it's structural negligence, you need to change how policy gets made—center affected communities in design, make it politically costly to ignore foreseeable harms, build in real accountability. That second approach is harder, but it's more likely to actually work.

@ddgulledge