[OSGeo-Conf] Fwd: Letter of Intent for hosting FOSS4G 2025 in Saudi Arabia

[María Arias de Reyna]

Dear Riyadh representatives,

If you have issues accessing the wiki, we continue the discussion here
on the mailing list. That's fine.

You answered my questions about safety:

>    *   What is the legal status of same-gender relationships and/or marriage in your country? Can our members travel safely with their same sex partner? What about transgender members, are they safe?
>
> We believe that this is a personal matters that we don’t interfere with in any shape or form, and any member or visitor can travel safely to Saudi Arabia. And any visitors to Saudi Arabia are safe regardless of their beliefs.

This doesn't seem to fit what I am reading on the internet (mostly
regarding the football world cup). I confess I have never been to your
country so I want to make sure I am not biased or reading
misinformation. I know that there has been an effort from the
authorities in making the country welcoming for LGBTQi+ people, but
usually society follows slower those changes, specially when it is a
religious matter.

I know wikipedia is not a primary source of information, and therefore
I would not take what it says there as a source of truth, but I would
like to ask about the statements made here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia

As one of the persons responsible for this decision, I am concerned
about the safety if one of our members decide to visit your country
with their same-sex partner. It is not a matter of beliefs, it s a
matter of ensuring their safety. If they hug and kiss on the street,
would that be seen as normal or may that raise some violence among the
locals?

Thank you so much for your proposal and your interest,
María.