In the previous article about Portofino there was a comment by “A Staffer” which brought into focus more issues facing residents of that RP community.
In that comment the individual mentioned the LGBTQ community, and how some residents who are LGBTQ are now feeling unwelcome coming straight off the heels of another member of the LGBTQ community being harassed and threatened by one of the big “families” of Portofino. A light was shone on an individual who had run into problems with one of the families of Portofino. The word had then spread to the LGBTQ group that was set up by this individual for other people in the LGBTQ community in Portofino, and it may end up culminating in all of them leaving at some point. For reference, this means around 12 renters leaving en-masse. Like Magnolia, Woodland Grove, Caledon, Second Norway and other large communities, the LGBTQ community are there, and they are in large numbers, they just choose to live quietly.
For some background. The individual’s first name in real life is Amanda, she lives in Michigan with her partner Danielle. Amanda is originally from Surrey, England, and moved to Michigan 15 years ago, They have two cats, an English Setter (Dog) and 2 goldfish. Her partner Danielle is a member, and volunteer staff of CenterLink https://www.lgbtqcenters.org an organisation which, for 30 years, has matched LGBTQ people in need of help or support with local LGBTQ community centers. Danielle has seen the original messages as they live together. Both of them were comfortable giving away a little peek into their real life as no one in Second Life knows anything about their real-world location, names or info, so this article cannot be tied directly to them inworld.
The screenshots have been blurred by Danielle, as Amanda has no experience with this sort of thing. All names mentioned in the messages, including the names of the sender and receiver of the messages, have also been blurred in accordance with the Linden Lab Terms of Service. I requested that the screenshots be taken in a “current” place in Second Life, in this case, SmokeFest, this way people can see the screenshots are current and the window is showing a previous conversation.
It wasn’t just a case of protecting Amanda from falling foul of the Linden Lab TOS, as Amanda put it herself in an email…
There is a member of Cara’s family who openly boasted several times in group and local chats that he was in security and is a private investigator. I don’t want my SL name to be tied to this because of my and Danielle’s fear of what this male member of Cara’s family would do if he found out what our address was. Both of us have been very carefull inworld not to say where we live, or even say on our accounts what state or country we live in. We are not even partnered in-world and Danielle lives in a different community.
It is honestly like Communist China or North Korea. Openly boasting that he can find out who you are. I abuse reported him several times for these open boasts, but he has so many alt accounts its hard to tell if he got suspended.
Included is a rough screen recording I requested, made by Danielle incase there are cries of “photoshopped”. Names are covered.
Danielle and Amanda’s computers are in the same room, next to each other. Danielle said that Amanda burst into tears a minute or so after the last message you see above was sent. Danielle then came over, asked what was wrong and upon finding out, blocked the individual and sent an abuse report.
The same day Danielle sent a message to Cara about the incident. There was no reply. Two days after these messages were sent, Amanda noticed that a lot of people in Portofino who used to talk to her were no longer talking to her. She is in effect “blackballed” from Portofino society.
At the time of writing this article, two other people in Portofino have come forward with incidents which are remarkably similar to Amanda’s. Both of these individuals also presented Cara with evidence of it happening, and both times, Cara did not reply.
Some of you may notice this article is a lot “colder” and “neutral” than the previous one. I decided to put my journalist hat on for this and simply present the evidence with no opinion. I also got help from another journalist from my place of work to give the article a once-over to check if it steers in the direction of neutral journalism and not the fire and brimstone articles we usually do.
Just before this article was published, I received another email from Amanda saying that she plans to move to Magnolia City and a second house at Second Norway which she is already setting up. The rent in her house in Portofino will be left to lapse. I will not be stating how much time she said he has left in the rent box so no direct tie can be made to her. I’ll be the first to pre-emptively welcome Amanda to Magnolia, even though I won’t know who she is when she does move in.
I will end this article with an email from Amanda, which, like the previous quote, she agreed to share.
“I was abused as a child. From the age of 9 to 11 I was put through mental and physical hell. The person responsible for it spent a lot of time in Jail. Second Life, and communities like Portofino are supposed to be safe places for people of all sexual orientations to enjoy. The last few messages from this individual gave me flashbacks of my real life abuser trying to mentally corner me into doing something they wanted, or another bad thing would happen.
This individual, and the family they are a part of, are sick, sick people, and Cara is as sick as they are for not doing anything to stop it.”
Written by Liandra
Edited by Tommy “Mc Mac”
Secondary check by Fenella
Doughnuts eaten by Liza
