Suggested changes to Code of Conduct #65
Comments
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Hi, I wrote the original email. First bit looks good. I suggest mentioning this in more places as well. Your front page still implies it all totally safe.
This isn't quite what I meant. This section of the CoC is about what the staff should do to handle an incident, and by putting that section there, it implies that this police prohibition only applies to conference staff. I suggest that any attendee reporting any other attendee to the police for LGBTQ activity/advocacy should be against the CoC. In theory, this is covered by "harassing". If attendee A is harassed by the police because of the actions of another attendee B, then that B has essentially harassed A on the LGBTQ grounds. How about "Harassment includes ... inappropriate physical contact, unwelcome sexual attention, and reporting any other attendee, their friends or family, to the police for LGBTQ, same-sex, or gender non-conforming, activities or advocacy." This would apply to all attendees, including conference staff. The last bit is nothing to do with what I raised, I presume you're just tidying up the document. |
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@timlinux @markiliffe thoughts? who else should review these potential changes? |
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Hi. I don't have any specific thoughts on the proposed changes - I'm happy to defer to those that have thought this through. Ideally @TylerRadford should just finalise which changes I should make and then I will action it. |
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I think the changes make sense. Did someone wake up the OSGeo CoC committee for advice? Going to send an email to the mailing list to see if we can get more people reviewing this. |
includes but not limited to. That's important. We can't cover the full list of things. |
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" Do not report any attendees, friends, and family to the police for LGBTQ activity." I would change that by: " Do not report any attendees, friends, and family, let the conference organization know first as they know better the local laws and how to handle it." It may be read as "we don't want troubles" but maybe with some rephrase I can't think about now can be seen as what it really is: the organization should handle and take care, not the individuals. |
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@Delawen I think your changes result in the opposite of what I meant. I presume that' Attendees should be allowed to call the police if they're a victim of something, and that shouldn't be a CoC violation. Some CoC have a blanket "don't call the police" rule, and that helps abusers. Here, I'm talking only about the crime of homosexual activity (in Tanzania). As in: "Calling the police to report a fellow attendee is OK, unless you're reporting them to the police for homosexuality, and then that's a CoC violation". The way you've worded it sounds like "Let the conference organisers know if there are any homosexuals in attendance. They know the local laws better and how to handle homosexuals". |
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I'd suggest being much more explicit, esp for local attendees and writing: "LGBTQ, same-sex, , gender non-conforming, or homosexual activities or advocacy" |
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Hi All, I've pinged the OSGeo list for their awareness on this. Give it a few days and we can finalise this while the broader work of the OSGeo diversity group continues. |
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As an outsider reading this Code of Conduct, without knowing the Tanzania anti-LGBT laws, this CoC would seem strange in the way they are singling out LGBT. I think it would be useful to state up front what the legal situation is, and the limits to the FOSS4G committee's ability to enforce the CoC or protect delegates from local laws. I think it would be good to have a statement noting something like:
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If I haven't mentioned something else, that doesn't mean I don't think it should be included. I started the conversation about LGBTQ issues, by all means, expand the conversation. It's illegal to be gay in Tanzania. Like many places, it originates from British colonial laws. Tanzania has introduced new laws since then, and it's currently on an anti-homosexual crack down. I found lots of newspaper articles from the last ~6 months. CoCs should be explicit, so "don't report people for homosexuality"[1] is an example of harassment. This also communicates your awareness of the issue to LGBTQ attendees. My biggest issue is the organizers referring to (thinking?) this event is a "safe space [for LGBTQ people]", or that "all are welcome". Plenty of LGBTQ people holiday Dar es Salaam (I've done it, twice!), it's possible, you just must act closeted. But that's different from a safe space! It's embarrassing to say "Oops, we made a mistake, this isn't safe" but if an attendee does or says the wrong thing in the wrong place, there could be horrible, horrible consequences. The CoC is prominently displayed on your website, implying you're in the new breed of conferences which take harassment seriously. Please, don't mislead people. Expansion of @camerons's suggestion:
[1] I use "homosexual" here because that's what the laws and media in Tanzania use. But I mean all non-cis, non-hetero people. Many might not know what "We're pro-LGBTQ rights" means, but "We promote homosexuality"[2] might be clearer in a Tanzanian context? [2] Yes, no-one is really "promoting" just one sexuality. But that's often what any acceptance of LGBTQ issues is called. e.g. the UK's Section 28 law (repealed 13 months before OSM started, and a few months after USA decriminalized homosexuality![4]) banned schools "promoting homosexuality". Teachers could only speak negatively about LGBTQ issues, and some took it to mean they couldn't interfere in homophobic bullying(!). [3] I am wary about calling "don't act gay" as "behave respectfully". I don't know better phrasing. |
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@rory @Delawen @TylerRadford @mikelmaron I've tried as best I can to harmonise these comments into an amended Code of Conduct. It is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k_zWD2dnMg0T-EhA2l828xkLxGyMHpLOuc0WxB5vfkM/edit?usp=sharing. I have also shared this through the FOSS4G mailing lists - I suggest HOT does the same for us to get this as far and wide as possible. |
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That looks good to me. You're giving clear advice to LGBTQ people about the local situtation, you're telling them what to do (& not do). The sentence about the opinions of OSGeo is good, I never for a moment thought you directly supported these kinds of laws BTW. It's good that you copied a CoC which details staff handling guidelines. You've put the "don't report LGBTQ activity" in the rules for staff handling, not in general list of harassment for all attendees. Unrelated: You say 911 is the phone number for the police. Is that right? Wikipedia tells me it's 999. GSM mobile phones have a standard that 112 goes to the local emergency services number. |
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Thank you Rory and Mark for your help with this. I have sent it to HOT's
Summit working group for review and to distribute more widely.
…On Mon, Apr 9, 2018 at 4:36 AM, Rory McCann ***@***.***> wrote:
That looks good to me. You're giving clear advice to LGBTQ people about
the local situtation, you're telling them what to do (& not do). The
sentence about the opinions of OSGeo is good, I never for a moment thought
you directly supported these kinds of laws BTW. It's good that you copied a
CoC which details staff handling guidelines.
You've put the "don't report LGBTQ activity" in the rules for staff
handling, not in general list of harassment for all attendees.
------------------------------
Unrelated: You say 911 is the phone number for the police. Is that right?
Wikipedia tells me it's 999. GSM mobile phones have a standard that 112
goes to the local emergency services number.
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@rory, I've taken another pass and incorporated yours and the OSGeo community's suggestions/comments as best as I can. @TylerRadford over to you! |
Very good job in protecting the victim and ensuring their integrity i case they do face this situation. |
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@litlplastkastl can you help identify where that line is please? Thanks!! In the doc, it reads as "If there is an immediately dangerous situation, do not hesitate to call 112 (Tanzanian police emergency) first". I'm unsure this is what is intended! |
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I was looking at the code for the document. The paragraphy with the suggestion is as follows " |
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@timlinux can you reflect the CoC onto the FOSS4G website please? I'll keep this ticket open to be indicative of its status as a living document. |
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Website was update a couple of weeks ago, leaving this ticket in idle mode |
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I dont understand what is requested.
2018-05-08 6:17 GMT-06:00 Tim Sutton <notifications@github.com>:
… Website was update a couple of weeks ago, leaving this ticket in idle mode
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Code of Conduct
Suggesting changes related to Rory McCann's email to diversity-talk OSM list.
Change from
FOSS4G is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form.Change to
FOSS4G is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. While conference organizers will make every attempt to provide a welcoming experience for those of all sexual orientations and gender identities, not all incidents may be actionable due to local law in Tanzania.Change from
6. If everyone is presently physically safe, involve law enforcement or security only at a victim's request.Change to
6. If everyone is presently physically safe, involve law enforcement or security only at a victim's request. Do not report any attendees, friends, and family to the police for LGBTQ activity.Change from
Once something is reported at least two of Caitlin, Guido, Ashley and Michael should meet. The main objectives of this meeting is to find out the following:Change to
Once something is reported at least two of the event coordinators should meet. The main objectives of this meeting is to find out the following:The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered: