[Foundation-l] Concern for the safety of Wikimanians in Alexandria

[Oldak Quill]

Thank you Mike for addressing these issues and investigating them.

On 06/03/2008, Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 5:04 PM, Gerard Meijssen
>  <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > Hoi,
>  >  Thanks,
>
>  Yes Mike, this was very helpful and informative, thank you. As an
>  additional matter, and one that you didn't touch on directly (perhaps
>  because it's a non-issue and you didn't need to mention it) is the
>  issue of homosexuals. Assuming our conference attendees maintain a
>  strict "don't ask, don't tell" policy, will there be any particular
>  danger to them? I assume not, since you can't punish a person for an
>  offense you aren't aware of.

My concern isn't that homosexual Wikimedians will be in danger if they
don't tell anyone, it is that homosexual Wikimedians must actively
hide their sexuality. By "hide", I'm not talking about not having sex
in public (as some posters have suggested), or even hand-holding
(which most homosexuals don't feel comfortable to do in the UK). The
former is laughable, the latter is dispensable.

Does the "don't ask, don't tell" policy extend to not mentioning that
you have a partner to others? If a Wikimedian attends with a same-sex
partner, should they not tell people they are partners? Should they
not tell people they are staying in the same room? I don't think many
homosexuals are interested in saying "I'm a homosexual" for the sake
of saying it or making it known for the sake of making it known:
heterosexuals don't have to make such an announcement and there's not
an expectation that heterosexuals make it clear that they are
attracted to people of the opposite sex.

The concern is that while heterosexual Wikimedians may attend with
their other-sex partner and let others know that they are partners,
homosexual Wikimedians wouldn't have the same freedom under a "don't
ask, don't tell" policy.

-- 
Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)