Pokemon TCG Judge banned for transphobic harassment
A judge for the Pokemon Trading Card Game has been banned for allegedly using transphobic language and harassing competitors during last weekend’s Vancover Regionals event.
According to a member of team Girl Power, Travis Madaris (who was identified by Dot Esports) approached the team for a photo on March 12. The group shared a selfie and according to the team member who shared the story in a TwitLonger, Eliza Barbera, the interaction started out as positive. Madaris, originally, just wanted to find out how judges could be more inclusive.
However, the situation quickly took a turn for the worse. Madaris allegedly started to talk about how “the online trans community is far too unhinged so it makes all trans people look bad”, and commented that trans people should wear pronoun pins to events “if they don’t want to be misgendered.” According to the TwitLonger, Madaris also went around the group and, one by one, pointed out why the group didn’t pass for women.
The group managed to leave the judge and the venue behind to go to a restaurant to eat dinner. However, Madaris followed the group and caused further complications and stress before security got involved.
The Girl Power team reported the incident to the tournament organizers, and the judge has since been permanently removed and stripped of his status as a judge.
While Madaris has been removed from being a judge for the Pokemon Trading Card Game scene, Girl Power team member Natalie has expressed that they do not want to see the judge’s life ruined. “I understand and emphasize with wanting to do the right thing in regards to the judge situation. However PLEASE refrain from attempting to dox, harass, or cancel him outside of the Pokémon/TCG space. He is still a human being and does not deserve his life ruined.” They said.
“It has been dealt with inside of Pokemon and he will no longer be judging or interacting with our community.” Natalie continued. “Once again please do not engage further. All the proper channels have been gone through and we would all prefer to wash our hands of the situation.”
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