First off, don’t worry; I’m not leaving.

In less than 4 hours, a site that has been part of my life for many years in some form or fashion will shut down and its hard drives ground up into powder. I will not go into the details of the site or the nature thereof, but I would feel remiss if I didn’t say something about it. Years ago, when I was feeling isolated and uncomfortable in my own skin, that site and its members helped me to feel like I wasn’t alone, and over time, they helped me to accept myself. It was life-changing for me, and I am grateful.

But, due to Visa, MasterCard, and other payment-processing companies refusing to process payments for it, it is closing down after 17 years. I am sad to see it go and angry that it was bigotry that killed a site that had over a million members worldwide.

But, I’ve already had the time to be upset about this for a while now, so I don’t want to belabor this. I consider this one step in the grieving process and a final farewell. Therefore, for fear of waxing sentimental, I’ll cut this short and just say that it is a sad night for me. This site was, as far as I know, the only one of its kind that let so many people open up about a non-mainstream interest, and with its closing, we must all return to anonymity and isolation.

It is, truly, the end of an era.