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

[Andrew Whitworth]

On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 7:59 AM, Oldak Quill <oldakquill at gmail.com> wrote:
>  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.

I agree that this isn't entirely ideal, but when it comes to hiding
things the LGBT community won't be the only ones affected in
Alexandria, and you only need to hide this fact from the Egyptian
authorities, not from your fellow conference goers. I don't suspect
that atheists are going to want to make that viewpoint very public in
Alexandria either. Politics, which often do cross cross over into the
territories of morality and religion, should probably also be kept
under wraps too.

>  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?

For a long time, I referred to my now-fiance as my "friend". Saying
"I'm spending the night with my girlfriend" turned into the nonchalant
"I'm staying out tonight with friends". There are many reasons why I
wanted to obscure the truth then, and it was easy enough to do. You
can easily refer to your life-partner as your "friend" or as your
"companion" with enough ambiguity that you don't need to lie and you
don't need to go into any more detail. Again, is this ideal? no. But,
when you are in a foreign place you need to expect to make at least
some concessions.

>  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.

As a sign of mutual respect and compassion, maybe all wikimedians
should voluntarily give up  public displays of affection with their
significant others while in Alexandria. Even a small show of community
solidarity can go a long way to turn a lousy situation into a good
one.

--Andrew Whitworth