[Foundation-l] [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2008 will happen in Alexandria, Egypt

[Mark Williamson]

LGBT people are normal people. We are not a special interest group. We
form between 5 and 20% of the population, depending who you ask.

That is like saying:

"I regret the concerns of the black people, but..."
"I regret the concerns of the women..."
"I regret the concerns of the senior citizens..."

These are not special interest groups. These are wide sections of the
human population. This is not as trivial as you are trying to make it
sound. We will not accept such subhuman treatment.

Mark

On 10/10/2007, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> Muhammad Alsebaey wrote:
> > Hey Aude and George, thank you for voicing that opinion, it is exactly how I
> > feel. Another point for everyone to consider: If Wikimania was restricted to
> > being in USA and Western Europe, it's kind of a closed-membership club,
> > people from Africa, the Middle east and various other places will have a
> > hard time getting a visa there if they have a shot at that at all (I know
> > that a US visa requires that you prove beyond doubt you have ties with your
> > home country that will force you to come back after the conference, and that
> > you have a considerable amount of money in your bank account, which is
> > something hard to do for young people without established families.).
> I think that many of us look forward to visiting Alexandria and, if we
> can make the time, the rest of Egypt.  The press tends to blow the
> occasional criminal or terrorist incident completely out of proportion.
> The American media in particular attaches a far greater degree of
> tragedy to the one or two Americans that die in such incidents then the
> 200 local individuals who also perish.  I do not attach a lot of
> importance to whether a country is "democratic"; that is not something
> to be decided by outsiders  I regret the concerns of the LGBT people,
> but sometimes it is simply not possible to adjust to all the interests
> of special interest groups.
>
> I did not hear of visa problems at Frankfurt, but it affected many
> people who would have liked to attend in Boston.  AFAIK, unfortunately
> and ironically, the only people that were kept from Taipei because of
> visa issues were the Egyptians.
>
> I expect that visa issues will continue to be a factor in choosing
> American hosts at least until after they have had a change of government.
>
> Ec
>
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