Transphobic maintainer should be removed from project

[CoralineAda]

Elia Schito is publicly calling trans people out for "not accepting reality" on Twitter. His Twitter profile mentions that he is a core contributor to opal. Is this what the other maintainers want to be reflected in the project? Will any transgender developers feel comfortable contributing?

https://twitter.com/krainboltgreene/status/611569515315507200

[meh]

If you want him removed, start working on Opal and contributing as much as him to everything he did for Opal so we have a replacement that's more in orientation with your morals and views.

Protip: you won't because you can't.

[meh]

Also to elaborate more on that, Opal is a technology, technology is moral-less, if a transgender contributor appeared @elia's views wouldn't even appear in here, because why would anyone care, bring contributions, they will be accepted with open arms, bring morals and politics in here, and you will be shown the metaphorical door.

[johana-star]

As a queer person this sort of argument from a maintainer makes me feel unwelcome. The ignorance which @elia shows by claiming that transfolk are "not accepting reality" is actively harmful.

I will not contribute to this project or any other project which @elia maintains.

[meh]

@elia is free to have his opinions, in the case he'll bring his views against anyone contributing based on any of their mental or physical attributes, then it would be reason to tell him not to do that.

As you @strand, are free to not contribute to Opal, feel free to use any other Ruby to JavaScript technology.

[skade]

The opal team, though, is not a technology. Contributing to a software project also means contributing to the works of others, requiring mutual respect.

Requesting contributions before being heard is a pretty low stab as well - you are basically saying that opinions gain worth with merit.

[jaredcwhite]

The personal views of a maintainer, as long as they are not influencing in a discriminatory way the contributions accepted in a project, should be off-limits for discussion IMHO. It pains me to see this even be an issue here. Thanks @meh for stating what should be obvious.

[aredridel]

Damn. I found out about this project thanks to this issue, and it's super relevant to my interests. But not going to come near it with a thousand foot pole if these are the people I'd have to interact with.

[CoralineAda]

To @meh and others who think that OSS is a moral-free zone: https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-dehumanizing-myth-of-the-meritocracy

Pro tip: you won't read it because you don't care.

[tobascodagama]

The opal team, though, is not a technology. Contributing to a software project also means contributing to the works of others, requiring mutual respect.

Bingo. If developers can't trust the Opal team to treat them with respect, why would they want to use and contribute to Opal?

Is the Opal team really willing to value a single contributor now over hundreds of users and contributers in the future? Seems pretty short-sighted to me.

[meh]

@skade @elia is not telling anyone to not contribute to Opal because of their mental or physical attributes, and there isn't any unwelcoming to anyone contributing, he's free to say anything he wants, like you are, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the project.

And requesting someone to be removed because of their views without even knowing what their work is, is as much of a low stab.

[fivetanley]

Protip: you won't because you can't.

Being this dismissive of someone is not really a great way to run an OSS project. You will lose out as people feel less welcome.

Also Coraline has been in the industry for many years, and is one of the most seasoned developers I know. This was not a fair stab.

[meh]

@aredridel as long as you interact with the people about the technology, you will be welcome and treated with respect.

When you bring something completely unrelated, then you aren't, as simple as that. It's like I started talking about candy in here, it is not the place.

[sellout]

“The personal views of a maintainer, as long as they are not influencing in a discriminatory way the contributions accepted in a project” – the personal views of the maintainer influence even the contributions submitted to a project (including both patches and involvement in the community). They won’t be accepted because you never even get to see them.

“not telling anyone to not contribute to Opal” – no, but he’s dissuading them from participating just by espousing these biases.

[aredridel]

Exactly: as long as I interact solely about the technology, and who I am is never mentioned, I'm welcome to participate and be respected. This is second class participation, and this is not respect.