GopherCon pulls out of Florida due to “Don't Say Gay” and abortion restrictions • Hacker News Board

Re: GopherCon pulls out of Florida due to “Don't Say Gay” and abortion restrictions

#21

Post by f154hfds » Fri, May 27, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

lostgame wrote: post #19

f154hfds wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be referring to a general cultural attitude in the south ("violent toward LGBTQ+") than the particular laws which perhaps are a legislative expression of the southern population's animus? In which case you treat the south on the same spectrum as say Afganistan where the cultural and legislative environment is so hostile you would refrain from even visiting?

The laws are a direct result of these people existing and voting for them, and a symptom of the oppressive environment that awaits for LGTBQ+ folk who visit, or - worse - live, there. And of course I would never visit Afghanistan, either!

> For a country that likes to jerk itself off about being the epitome of ‘freedom’, they sure do like to tell people what to do.

> The laws are a direct result of these people existing and voting for them.

I see these as contradictory statements. In reality independent legislatures are making laws along the lines of their constituency's prevailing ideology. Both sides of this cultural divide are increasingly unable or unwilling to even entertain each others' points of view in good faith debate.

Re: GopherCon pulls out of Florida due to “Don't Say Gay” and abortion restrictions

#22

Post by eesmith » Fri, May 27, 2022, 8:25 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #2

I liked it better when organizations that weren't intrinsically political didn't get politically entangled with local politics at every opportunity... seems like a fad now (coming up with political reasons not to host your conference at X location or allow Y speaker to come and speak)

Is it really "a fad now"? Or is it that you don't know about older actions?

What about the 1970s when some bars stopped serving Coors to protest of the company's anti-labor and anti-LGBT policies? ("As late as 2019, Coors beer was difficult to find in any gay bar in San Francisco." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coors_strike_and_boycott )

Or 1969 when the AMS decided to move the spring meeting from Chicago to Cincinnati, in response to the brutal police attacks on political protestors during the 1968 DNC meeting? https://books.google.com/books?id=UnkYqxyWGz8C&pg=PA88&dq=mo...

Or even earlier in the 1960s when MLK proposed a boycott on Mississippi products? Quoting https://books.google.com/books?id=qcADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&dq=%2...

> When millionaire Flint merchant Joseph Megell, 51, short, stocky aggressive president of 'Yankee Stores, Inc., announced that his buyers would boycott Mississippi-made products, he hoped that other large buyers of Mississippi goods would follow suit. Megdell, whose 18 stores, located in eight Michigan cities gross millions annually, launched the boycott because of the "ugly racial situation" in the state.

Re: GopherCon pulls out of Florida due to “Don't Say Gay” and abortion restrictions

#23

Post by mcphage » Fri, May 27, 2022, 8:43 PM UTC

f154hfds wrote: post #10

threatofrain wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The statement from GopherCon was about the alignment of values, and lostgame is expressing gratitude for moral support in a harsh social environment. Why do you frame your discussion in terms of safety when the thread is about the alignment of values and the support of people such as lostgame? Do you think your framing is a better one than what was provided in the thread so far? Shall we talk more about conference se…

The statement gave two reasons I can see for moving the venue, both were related to recent law changes in Florida: > Florida no longer represents the safe and family-friendly destination we envisioned when we first selected the location. > we feel a strong moral and ethical obligation to ensure that the location of GopherCon aligns with the values of our community. The latter justification leads me to ask: how do we…

> The latter justification leads me to ask: how do we ascertain what our community values are?

Well, talk to your community and find out. Ask them what matters to them, what they think is important, how they want the world to change.

Re: GopherCon pulls out of Florida due to “Don't Say Gay” and abortion restrictions

#24

Post by jmclnx » Mon, May 30, 2022, 2:25 PM UTC

f154hfds wrote: post #21

lostgame wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laws are a direct result of these people existing and voting for them, and a symptom of the oppressive environment that awaits for LGTBQ+ folk who visit, or - worse - live, there. And of course I would never visit Afghanistan, either!

> For a country that likes to jerk itself off about being the epitome of ‘freedom’, they sure do like to tell people what to do. > The laws are a direct result of these people existing and voting for them. I see these as contradictory statements. In reality independent legislatures are making laws along the lines of their constituency's prevailing ideology. Both sides of this cultural divide are increasingly unable o…

I guess I will be flagged or down-voted, but I have to ask.

From your response, are you saying it is OK to vote for people who actively support discrimination against a segment of people ?

How is allowing people to live their life without State Sanctioned harassment a "point of view" ?

Re: GopherCon pulls out of Florida due to “Don't Say Gay” and abortion restrictions

#25

Post by f154hfds » Tue, May 31, 2022, 8:09 PM UTC

jmclnx wrote: post #24

f154hfds wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For a country that likes to jerk itself off about being the epitome of ‘freedom’, they sure do like to tell people what to do. > The laws are a direct result of these people existing and voting for them. I see these as contradictory statements. In reality independent legislatures are making laws along the lines of their constituency's prevailing ideology. Both sides of this cultural divide are increasingly unable o…

I guess I will be flagged or down-voted, but I have to ask. From your response, are you saying it is OK to vote for people who actively support discrimination against a segment of people ? How is allowing people to live their life without State Sanctioned harassment a "point of view" ?

The state sanctions harassment all the time:

* It harasses me about taxes every year as I constantly mess things up...

* It should definitely harass you if you break the law!

These laws in question "harass" (restrict) one population by disabling harassment perpetrated by another population.

For the sex-education ban it "harasses" (restricts) sex education to prevent teachers from "harassing" elementary aged children about sexual identity in schools. An abortion ban "harasses" mothers by restricting them from "harassing" their babies.

We're talking about a culture that values the one group's rights over the others' rights. Who wins depends on the prevailing culture in our system of government but one group will necessarily win at the others' expense.