The identities of modern individuals are changed by these online spaces in the sense that an individual is no longer perceived on one thing– their physical presence and behaviors. The great thing about this community is that one can be explicitly involved and open, or more lowkey but equally as supportive through means of clothing, pins, or engagement with the hashtag but not tweeting themselves. Now, one's online version of themselves–i.e, freedom from the offline ‘persona’ that can be restrictive of their authentic self, can remain anonymous, or be an entirely different embodiment of who they are. This community is an open-arm area for acceptance. The community recognizes struggles with identity and publicly coming out, so it is made of both genuine embodiments of users who are within the LGBTQ+ community, but also made-up users who want to engage in these atmospheres but are still sheltering their identities from fear of the outside world. This comes into play especially for when users are not publicly “out” about their sexuality, this digital space is their serenity and safe place, which allows for their authentic self to be expressed and explored. Some users are silent allies, where they use this digital space to learn more about the ongoing issues and news to stay educated– while others are advocate and vocal and inform the users in the community of the ongoing events and are seeking more peers like them. T.L. Taylor describes this play between worlds as boundary work (Week 9 PPT, Slide 4).

In correlation to the digital communities like #LoveWins and other niche groups, this means that individuals can blur the lines and boundaries between their real identities and their avatar– in this sense, their social media representation (Taylor, Page 2). Regardless, the community is there to guide, accept, educate, and embrace one another– it is a diverse community where everyone recognizes the struggles, pace, and journey one is on. The decision of choosing to represent yourself online the same as you do offline or represent yourself otherwise can be a good thing or a bad thing when it comes to building relationships. With rose-colored glasses, it allows for an unapologetic self to be showcased and expressed without the fear of judgment from people surrounding you in your day-to-day life– dare someone find your account and learn things about you that you were not yet ready to share. But as with every positive is a downside, and the ability to entirely change your offline persona can lead to a plethora of different, unfortunate experiences.

As aforementioned earlier, membership and alliance can look like so many different things. With recognition to the fact that individuals engaging and immersing themselves in this space are involved for different reasons, it is important that a space that is inclusive and welcoming to sexual minorities does not place any further pressure on these individuals than there already is. Sexual minorities are the marginalized people of the world, who in turn, face a refusal of acceptance for their beliefs and sexual identifications. To reiterate, this online sector serves as a safe space, and to enforce particular rules to remain a member or a part of this community would only be parallel to the pressure that the public sphere already places on these individuals.

To be a member in this space, one can engage with the hashtag, follow the hashtag, reinforce particular ideas, or show alliance in other means. Users of the hashtag, as well as individuals in the real world outside of this digital space, can imply their alliance, support, or participation within this community by simply representing a rainbow flag symbol or just by simply expressing that these individuals are heard. There are no particular standards or rules for members of this community other than acceptance, patience, and understanding. The coming-out process is not easy, vocalizing ones experiences are not easy, and of course; recognizing struggles and expressing understanding is a vital part to building a community that feels comfortable and encourages growth. Each individual is a part of this community, homosexual or not, to show support. While doing this may be shown to different extents, membership is easy.

Social media allows for this group to be accessible to anyone around the world. This is not an exclusive group, as one just simply needs to search the hashtag and conversation regarding recent matters will appear. It is up to the user to engage to the level they desire. While social media allows for communities who feel alone to come together and embrace, it also brings online traffic from those who do not support this group.

As we expanded on the notion of identities earlier, the ability for someone to choose to express themselves authentically, or to shelter some of their most recognizable give-aways is up to their discretion-- because again, this community was built on lack of acceptance and fear of harassment. So, because at times people can create these online identities with ill-intent, it can lead to an infiltration of hate and online abuse. Abuse can be in many forms, whether that be of power or verbal or other means other than physical, and it is often seen in spaces that have unpopular beliefs like this very one. #LoveWins is a counter public in both the digital and offline worlds, and in both there is a high presence of trolling, hate speech and abuse.