[Osmf-talk] HOT, CoC, LGBTQ+ (Re: Communication style - moderation - CoC [was Re: Board members with similar background)

[Blake Girardot]

Hi Rory,

To your exact and specific issue:

First off, yes, I think the HOT Summit this year was an eye opener for
everyone at HOT to the issue that the safety of all participants is
directly impacted by the laws of the country, state, etc where events
are held and how the term safe space is understood by different
people.

I think you are 100% correct that straight privileged was an
underlying issue as well in the process of venue selection and points
to why diversity in organizations across as many spectrum as possible
is so important.

When you raised the issue, we immediately understood the issue and
tried to clarify that when we said safe space, it was in the context
of the laws of the country that the event was held in.  In that
context, and because of that context, the HOT Summit staff and
volunteers would do whatever was in their control to make sure every
attendee was safe and they were made aware of the fact that police
involvement brought risks to LGBTQ+ attendees so things should be
handled accordingly.

And I reached out to you directly to ask for help putting together
some expert and lay person advice for LGBTQ+ travelers or links to
such advice that we could share with all attendees, both helping those
attending and raising awareness of the issue among those who's
privileged might have led them to not think about those issues others
face.

I believe to paraphrase your reply it was something like "that doesn't
matter, you don't understand what safe space means." I just remember
your first reply was not especially supportive of that idea and was
more focused on what safe space meant.

I did put one together anyway, and I believe you contributed to it
eventually via the diversity list as well, I do not know if it was
ever incorporated into any Summit public web pages or not.

We did our best Rory, I can't thank you enough for raising this issue,
I missed it totally during the venue selection process for the reason
stated above, I apologize for that and you can be sure it will not be
something I miss again. I hope the issue will be considered by every
OSM related event around the world going forward.

Respectfully,
Blake


On Sun, Dec 16, 2018 at 9:25 AM Rory McCann <rory at technomancy.org> wrote:
>
> On 16.12.18 07:56, Dale Kunce wrote:
> > We as community should adopt a Code of Conduct, not because we want
> > to moderate individuals but because some people's speech and actions
> > are so terrible it should not be welcomed. A Code of Conduct is not a
> > weapon it is a compact. As implemented by HOT our CoC is a compact
> > between people that civility, honesty, and grace are the basic
> > principles we believe in.
> I don't know anything about what happens with Nico or Severin, so I'm
> not commenting on that. I also don't know about CoC complaints in HOT.
> (And think all parts of OSM should adopt a CoC!)
>
> But I don't think HOT fully knows what a safe space is, and doubt
> their ability to fully enforce a CoC.
>
> I speak about the 2018 HOT Summit, which was held in a country where
> same sex sexual activity is illegal, and the police appear to be
> enforcing that law. I've been to that city twice on holidays, but,
> cripes, LGBTQ+ people need to be *very* careful.
>
> I do believe this problem didn't occur to them (straight/cis
> privilege!), I hope they took this as a learning opportunity. But their
> claim that it is a safe space for LGBTQ* people, while also advising
> that it was dangerous to act gay[1], displays face-palming levels of
> ignorance. And, to the best of my knowledge, they haven't corrected
> that. There's nothing wrong with admitting mistakes!
>
> As a member of the LGBTQ* community, I'd be wary about anyone who claims
> that HOT is great at CoC's, I'm not sure they'd (be able to) stand up
> for people like me.
>
> --
>
>
> [1] "The conference is a safe space and all are welcome regardless of
> gender identity/sexual orientation. CoC here:
> http://2018.foss4g.org/code-of-conduct.html … Laws may differ from home
> - all participants from outside TZ should abide by local laws/norms
> while in TZ. More:
> https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/tanzania/local-laws-and-customs" https://twitter.com/hotosm/status/964252343318532096
>
> P.S.: Perhaps I'm missing some important information about HOT & LGBTQ*
> issues, I'm not perfect (Indian law/enforcement didn't seem as bad as I
> initially thought, mea culpa), feel free to correct me here, in private,
> on/off the record, via subtweeting, through dreams and visions, in your
> prayers, through your sacrifices, etc cetera
>
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--
----------------------------------------------------
Blake Girardot
OSM Wiki - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Bgirardot
HOTOSM Member - https://hotosm.org/users/blake_girardot
skype: jblakegirardot