[hs-equality] 28c3 Queer Geeks Panel

[Lars Weiler]

Hi,

On 08.11.2011, at 19:18, Mitch Altman wrote:
> I didn't get an email yet, but by checking the Pentabarf system (as I've done each day), our Queer Geeks panel proposal has been officially rejected yesterday.  Too bad -- I think it would have been good as an "official" thing at Congress.
>  
> Shall we do an "unofficial" panel?

Well, stop!  That's the disadvantage of Pentabarf, that a user can check her/his own talks (or at least, when some special rights are set) ;-) We wanted to prepare an email with more information and a proposal. I guess, this is the time now…

We, the Content Committee, had more than half an hour of discussion about this panel. I even would say, this was the longest discussion about a submission we had this weekend. And we all agreed, that this topic is important! There are still a lot of hackerspaces with homophobic members and when you look at the security scene, you will meet many Alpha-Men who have a very low value for women.

But the proposed style for this topic -- a panel discussion -- will not reflect the message correctly. With eight persons on a panel, every person can talk for five to ten minutes. That's even not enough time to tell the own story.

So there was the idea to transfer the message of this panel in another way. We would like to ask you, to prepare videos with your message, which we can show during the breaks, on the TVs in the hallways or put on ours servers for later download. It sounds a bit like the "It Get Better Project". The goal should be, to show participants that we have a problem, that we want to solve it and that there are a lot of even very famous hackers, who help in creating a better community. There is no room for harassment, sexist behavior and discrimination at the Congress! Let's shout out Noisebridge's code of conduct “Be excellent to each other”!

Technically we should have the videos taken and cut before the Congress. We are all members of Hackerspaces and so I guess, that everybody should have access to a camera and a computer for cutting videos.

This is a proposal and I would like to hear your comments.

Thanks, Lars