LGBTQ in Technology Slack

Field	technology, LGBTQ
Scope	online, offline
Source	https://lgbtq.technology/coc.html
Related	GNOME

When Something Happens

If you see a Code of Conduct violation, follow these steps:

• Let the person know that what they did is not appropriate and ask them to stop and/or edit their message(s).
• That person should immediately stop the behavior and correct the issue.
• If this doesn’t happen, or if you’re uncomfortable speaking up, contact admins.
• As soon as available, an admin will join, identify themselves, and take further action (see below), starting with a warning, then temporary deactivation, then long-term deactivation.
• When reporting, please include any relevant details, links, screenshots, context, or other information that may be used to better understand and resolve the situation.

The Admin team will prioritize the well-being and comfort of those affected negatively by the violation over the comfort of the violator.

Code of Conduct

Note: “LGBTQ in Tech” in this document refers to the LGBTQ in Tech Slack organization at lgbt.slack.com. “The administrators” refers to the administrators on this organization, a list is available at the top of the Team Directory (must be a member of the organization to view).

LGBTQ in Tech is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

This code of conduct applies to all LGBTQ in Tech spaces, including public channels, private channels and direct messages, both online and off.

Members under 18 are allowed, but are asked to stay out of channels with adult imagery.

Some LGBTQ in Tech spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.

Conduct

• No harassment.
• No questioning or challenging someone’s stated self-identity or chosen labels, even if they conflict with your own views. For example, discussions about bi vs pan, trans vs trans*, or whether grey/demisexual people are asexual, even if well-intentioned
• No making general statements about groups you do not belong to.
• No incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
• No deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse
• No publication of non-harassing private communication
• No advocating for members to be banned, except in direct messages, or private discussion with admins
• No unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, relationships, drugs, and employment.
• No gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they’re not appropriate
• No offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, national origin, ethnic origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker. This includes anti-Indigenous/Nativeness and anti-Blackness.

Harassment includes:

• Deliberate misgendering or use of “dead” or rejected names
• Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop.
• Threats of violence
• Deliberate intimidation
• Stalking or following
• Unwanted photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes
• Sustained disruption of discussion
• Unwelcome sexual attention
• Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
• Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease

Jokes that resemble the above, such as ‘hipster racism’ are still not allowed, even if meant satirically or ironically. See this article for background.

LGBTQ in Technology prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. The administrators will not act on complaints regarding:

• “Reverse”-isms, including “reverse racism,” “reverse sexism,” and “cisphobia”
• Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”
• Communicating in a “tone” you don’t find congenial
• Criticizing racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions

The examples listed above are not against the Code of Conduct.

Reporting

If you are being harassed by a member of LGBTQ in Tech, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the administrators by typing /admin <your message> in Slack, or contact an admin directly via DM. If the person who is harassing you is on the team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. We will respond as promptly as we can.

This code of conduct applies to LGBTQ in Tech spaces, but if you are being harassed by a member of LGBTQ in Tech outside our spaces, we still want to know about it. We will take all good-faith reports of harassment by LGBTQ in Tech members, especially the administrators, seriously. This includes harassment outside our spaces and harassment that took place at any point in time. The abuse team reserves the right to exclude people from LGBTQ in Tech based on their past behavior, including behavior outside LGBTQ in Tech spaces and behavior towards people who are not in LGBTQ in Tech.

In order to protect volunteers from abuse and burnout, we reserve the right to reject any report we believe to have been made in bad faith. Reports intended to silence legitimate criticism may be deleted without response.

We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. At our discretion, we may publicly name a person about whom we’ve received harassment complaints, or privately warn third parties about them, if we believe that doing so will increase the safety of LGBTQ in Tech members or the general public. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent.

Consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the administrators may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from all LGBTQ in Tech spaces and identification of the participant as a harasser to other LGBTQ in Tech members or the general public.

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