[OSGeo-Conf] LGBT in OSGeo

Tue Apr 17 15:34:24 PDT 2018

Dear All,

The start of this thread commenced with:

On the 20th of February I wrote in response to a concern raised on LGBT+
concerns in Dar es Salaam. To this, set out the following four action
points:

*To help move forward on this, we will 1. Ensure that we provide guidance
> to those in our community on this issue; 2. Seek dialog within our
> community on this issue, I am personally contactable on this and fully
> welcome any and all people who wish to discuss this on a face-to-face (over
> VC) or any other medium that the community would feel better with; 3.
> Recommend that the board puts in place guidance for future OSGEO
> conferences other this issues; 4. Support the formation of an LGBT+
> grouping within OSGEO to better support appropriate guidance on this issue.*

We're now a two months down the line and after a process of consultation
within the OSGeo community, with the input of our sister HOT community,
we've got a Code of Conduct [1] hopefully encapsulates our shared values. I
would not be so obtuse to declare "*Mission Accomplished*", we have a long
way to go here; we always will have a long way to go to ensure that we are
the most inclusive community that we can be. The steps that we as a DLOC
have now taken should have hopefully resolved the initial concerns that
some in community have had regarding LGBT+ concerns in Dar es Salaam. Today
in our weekly committee meeting, we progressed many things, including the
structure of our guidance notes for attendees to FOSS4G this year, this
will be published well in advance of previous FOSS4Gs to further inform and
help our community attend what we believe will be *THE BEST FOSS4G YET!!*

We envisage that the CoC remains a living document and is updated when new
questions on its content arise. This will hopefully transcend past Dar es
Salaam into future FOSS4Gs and we as a DLOC wish those LOCs the very best!
What is above stays true, my LOC and are happy to discuss this either over
email or by VC. Maria has started work on the points 3 and 4 through the
call for the Diversity Team [2], we will continue to support this as it
moves forward.

*We're looking forward to welcoming you all to Dar es Salaam this August! *

Best,

Mark Iliffe
Dar es Salaam FOSS4G co-chair.

[1]
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k_zWD2dnMg0T-EhA2l828xkLxGyMHpLOuc0WxB5vfkM/edit?usp=sharing

[2] http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/OSGeo-Discuss-f3842115.html

On 9 April 2018 at 12:35, Mark Iliffe <markiliffe at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I've tried as best I can to include the various comments from all - the
> best thing being is that I believe that they do not conflict with each
> other and serve to improve the CoC. I know that HOT will be also working on
> this to pass it through their summit working group, but I'm happy for us to
> move forward on this. To stress, and echoing Cameron above, in my opinion
> this is and should be a living document for OSGeo and will transcend this
> year's FOSS4G and beyond. Please do contribute and comment further so we
> can make this the best reflection of our values and community as possible!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mark
>
> On 8 April 2018 at 18:14, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Quite a few comments from me, and while most should be able to be
>> addressed quite easily, there are some bigger questions which it would be
>> good to take to the greater CoC communities.
>>
>> 1. I think we could do a better job at describing the range of actions
>> that could be taken, without being threatening. (This takes a lot of effort
>> to word correctly. This code of conduct covers everything from minor
>> infringement to totally criminal behavior and it is difficult to get the
>> balance right. At the moment, I don't think we are fully covering the minor
>> infringement case (which is likely to get more cases).
>>
>> 2. I think we could be more empowering of the reporter. We probably
>> shouldn't refer to them as a "victim". We probably should say, "In line
>> with our Code of Conduct, we plan to take the following next step. Is that
>> ok with you?" This is empowering of the reporter.
>>
>> I haven't gone into details of how this could be worded. I think it would
>> be quite time consuming to do so and get buy in from all involved.
>>
>> What has been written so far is good and suitable enough for the next
>> event. My suggestions are pushing toward what I think could be better for
>> the future.
>>
>> On 9/4/18 2:45 am, Mark Iliffe wrote:
>>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Following this thread, and comments on the FOSS4G 2018 Github [1] I have
>> created a google doc with an enhanced Code of Conduct:
>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k_zWD2dnMg0T-Eh
>> A2l828xkLxGyMHpLOuc0WxB5vfkM/edit?usp=sharing I welcome all to review.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> [1] Suggested changes to Code of Conduct · Issue #65 ·
>> foss4g2018/foss4g2018
>> <https://github.com/foss4g2018/foss4g2018/issues/65>
>>
>> On 31 March 2018 at 22:25, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Mark, conference committee,
>>>
>>> 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 it 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:
>>>
>>> 1. Participants should be mindful of LGBT local laws, which state ...
>>>
>>> 2. Participants should behave respectfully toward locals of the country
>>> and dress and behave respectfully when in public. Appropriate dress
>>> involves ...
>>>
>>> 3. While the OSGeo Foundation supports a safe conference environment and
>>> will apply whatever means at its disposal to support this (including
>>> removing people from the conference if needed), participants should be
>>> aware of the limit's of the FOSS4G committee's legal mandate to protect
>>> delegates.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 1/4/18 1:16 am, Mark Iliffe wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> Following these discussions, I would warmly welcome you all to
>>> contribute to the discussion on the CoC for this year’s FOSS4G:
>>> https://github.com/foss4g2018/foss4g2018/issues/65
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> On 9 Mar 2018, at 13:44, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Mark and others on this list,
>>>
>>> I'm seeing significant agreement here in promoting diversity within
>>> OSGeo. I encourage anyone who feels strongly about this should consider
>>> starting to craft revised text for OSGeo policy documents. Until that
>>> happens, we are all talk, no action, no impact.
>>>
>>> The process: Write draft changes to our policy documents, invite review,
>>> get rough consensus on wording, get the conference committee to vote to
>>> accept the proposed changes, update the official documents.
>>>
>>> Documents that I think need reworking are:
>>>
>>> https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/foss4g/rfp/
>>>
>>> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Handbook
>>>
>>> Warm regards, Cameron
>>>
>>> On 8/3/18 1:16 am, Mark Iliffe wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear María,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the update on this, we as FOSS4G DLOC will follow and further
>>> participate with interest.
>>>
>>> With regard to holding this conversation slowly, may I kindly counsel
>>> that we proceed as quickly and as openly as possible - to be clear, I do
>>> not view this as a point of debate for Dar es Salaam, but for our community
>>> as a whole - the ripples of this conversation go far beyond FOSS4G this
>>> year.
>>>
>>> The views and their number expressed have reinforced my (personal) view
>>> that to our credit, we have a great appetite for discussion on this within
>>> our community regarding diversity and inclusion - to proceed slowly in
>>> limited forums may provide the signal that we are not taking this seriously
>>> - we know this is *not* the case!! - but there is a difference between
>>> fact and perception unfortunately.
>>>
>>> I am not asking for people to come out of the closet to engage in this
>>> discussion; Personally, I am not LGBT+, however, I have a direct interest
>>> in making our community to be as inclusive and representative of our world
>>> as much as possible, this includes those in our community in relative
>>> and/or absolute poverty (ie. those that utilise QGIS to digitise their
>>> communities), or from under-represented communities - I believe that we can
>>> participate in this discussion not based on our race, creed, gender, sexual
>>> orientation but on the basis as we as a community stand weaker if one of us
>>> is disadvantaged - can we not engage independently as a member of humanity
>>> working towards inclusivity and acceptance, instead of categorising
>>> ourselves?
>>>
>>> This maybe a tone deaf view - and if so, please accept my humble
>>> apologies - but we clearly have a challenge here and while we cannot change
>>> the laws of any nation that we are working on, we can send the message to
>>> the OSGeo community that we are listening and through the CoC/diversity
>>> statement/working groups on LGBT+ etc. that *YOU ARE WELCOME IN THIS
>>> COMMUNITY!*
>>>
>>> This reinforces my personal view that we need to ensure that all are
>>> kept aware of these discussions - accordingly, I kindly request that we
>>> keep this in the OSGeo discuss board and make the F2F discussions in Bonn
>>> accessible for all and that the board takes appropriate action to ensure
>>> that this message is heard loud and clear throughout.
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> On 7 Mar 2018, at 02:37, María Arias de Reyna <delawen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Mark,
>>>
>>> Thank you very much for your email.
>>>
>>> I agree we should continue the discussion in the open. Now we have a
>>> clear view of the current situation from the board (and people
>>> following that list). A reason why I personally haven't moved this
>>> quicker more open is because I don't want OSGeo to be responsible of
>>> people coming out of the closet on the community and then travelling
>>> to Tanzania and having problems because of that. The risk is very low,
>>> as you have confirmed, but this is a very sensitive issue in many
>>> countries. Everyone should be aware of this before starting to point
>>> personal experiences, especially people coming from privileged
>>> countries where being LGBT+ is not only legal, but socially accepted.
>>>
>>> We have an OSGeo meeting in Bonn very soon and I think that is a
>>> proper place to discuss this, as it will be face to face and some
>>> people will be able to discuss this without having to write their
>>> names anywhere. I agree there should be an LGBT+ group inside OSGeo,
>>> and maybe we should provide the tools to allow members from sensitive
>>> countries/personal situations to participate anonymously. (How? I
>>> don't know yet.) And we should promote also some kind of diversity
>>> advice group, where all kind of discriminations can be addressed.
>>> Maybe merge this idea with the CoC team? Maybe a separated dedicated
>>> team? I don't know.
>>>
>>> Thanks for this and if you need some immediate action from the board,
>>> just let us know.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> María.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 12:11 AM, Mark Iliffe <markiliffe at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear OSGeo Board,
>>>
>>> On the 20th of February I wrote in response to a concern raised on LGBT+
>>> concerns in Dar es Salaam. To this, set out the following four action
>>> points:
>>>
>>> To help move forward on this, we will 1. Ensure that we provide guidance
>>> to those in our community on this issue; 2. Seek dialog within our
>>> community
>>> on this issue, I am personally contactable on this and fully welcome any
>>> and
>>> all people who wish to discuss this on a face-to-face (over VC) or any
>>> other
>>> medium that the community would feel better with; 3. Recommend that the
>>> board puts in place guidance for future OSGEO conferences other this
>>> issues;
>>> 4. Support the formation of an LGBT+ grouping within OSGEO to better
>>> support
>>> appropriate guidance on this issue.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To update on this:
>>>
>>> 1. We are collaborating with Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team on this
>>> issue,
>>> to ensure that the response to our mutual communities are in lock-step on
>>> this issue. Guidance will be published for consultation for the
>>> conference
>>> shortly;
>>> 2. I have reached out to members of the LGBT+ community that I know
>>> personally on a bilateral basis. I would welcome further dialogue with
>>> the
>>> OSGeo LGBT+ community on a bilateral, private basis for people to voice
>>> their concerns in confidence;
>>>
>>> Points 3 and 4 are of specific interest, in the view of the LOC of FOSS4G
>>> 2018, as we can set policy direction for our conference, but have no
>>> mandate
>>> nor mechanism to set policy across OSGeo. To this end, I would formally
>>> request, in my role of Chair of FOSS4G for the OSGeo Board to provide
>>> direction to future FOSS4G conferences and to further support and service
>>> this community within our wider community.
>>>
>>> Clearly, there is a desire for LGBT+ to be considered further in our
>>> community - as noted in the transcript of the previous board meeting [1],
>>> but I think this needs to be communicated to our wider community - I see
>>> the
>>> discussions on the OSGeo board mailing list, though this may not have the
>>> widest circulation. I am also available to have a video conference with
>>> the
>>> board, at their earliest possible convenience if such an invitation was
>>> extended.
>>>
>>> Finally, I really want to stress this for our conference in Dar es Salaam
>>> this year to our community: We want to have the most inclusive conference
>>> that we can possibly have. In the same way that previous FOSS4G events in
>>> Boston and North Carolina have demonstrated, our conferences have dealt
>>> with
>>> challenges within the wider legislative framework of their host country,
>>> we
>>> as a community are welcoming to any and all with open arms. We will
>>> publish
>>> guidance for those travelling, and if you still wish to participate but
>>> cannot come to Dar es Salaam, get in touch with us - we will help you get
>>> involved! Our FOSS4G will only be successful due to ALL the people in our
>>> OSGeo community; we are a big and dynamic family - we will reflect and
>>> live
>>> that this year in Dar es Salaam, and I hope in the many years to come.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> [1] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2018-03-01
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: jorge.dejesus <jorge.dejesus at geocat.net>
>>> Date: 21 February 2018 at 08:26
>>> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Conf] LGBT in Tanzania
>>> To: conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi to all
>>>
>>> I was following the LGBT  in Tanzania discussion, and I am happy to see
>>> the
>>> question added to the next RfP.
>>>
>>> The discussion on LGBT rights and safety requires a bit of common sense,
>>> I
>>> am LGBT it is one part of my live as being OsGEO member is another (one
>>> of
>>> many) part(s), normally these two don't intercept much, personally I
>>> think
>>> this is  why the LGBT community is present in OsGEO but very invisible.
>>> What?? No LGBT birds of the feather in FOSS4G ???
>>>
>>> Having a code of conduct that is non discriminatory, we must take  into
>>> consideration the rights of minorities and safety of ALL the
>>> participants of
>>> and a OsGEO conference, the LOC have to do their best for the safety.
>>> LOC
>>> should also informed  participants on what  are the real  problems that
>>> participants may have to face, then is up to the participants to decide
>>> if
>>> they fell comfortable to to attend the conference.
>>>
>>> Again, nice to see this topic discussed and remember these comments are
>>> my 2
>>> cents
>>>
>>> Enjoy your day
>>> Jorge
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 21-02-18 10:30, Till Adams wrote:
>>>
>>> Darrell, @ohers,
>>>
>>> thanks for the sum up, I agree in including such a question in the next
>>> RfP. In order to preserve your proposal, I've added your questionTill
>>> here:
>>>
>>> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Rfp
>>>
>>> I will add this to the next RfP-text.
>>>
>>>
>>> Till
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Am 20.02.2018 um 18:32 schrieb Darrell Fuhriman:
>>>
>>> "FOSS4G attracts a global, diverse community. Are there any laws, or
>>> social norms, in your proposed location that would make members of our
>>> community feel unsafe or unwelcome? That could include, but is not
>>> limited to, anti-LGBTQ+ policies, policies that would prevent the free
>>> exercise of religion, restrictions on certain activities based on
>>> gender or other factor, etc?”
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Conference_dev mailing list
>>> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Conference_dev mailing list
>>> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Conference_dev mailing listConference_dev at lists.osgeo.orghttps://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cameron Shorter
>>> Technology Demystifier, Learnosity
>>> Open Technologies Consultant
>>>
>>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cameron Shorter
>>> Technology Demystifier, Learnosity
>>> Open Technologies Consultant
>>>
>>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Cameron Shorter
>> Technology Demystifier, Learnosity
>> Open Technologies Consultant
>>
>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
>>
>>
>
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