Re: Debian supports pridemonth?
Martin Steigerwald - 02.07.19, 10:35:
> Russ Allbery - 02.07.19, 00:26:
> > Adrian Bunk <bunk@debian.org> writes:
> > > It is also a meaningful gesture if some people are excluded from
> > > being welcomed.
> > >
> > > Would Debian honor a month of white heterosexual men?
> >
> > Do you think people with those attributes have been made
> > systematically unwelcome in Debian, free software, or the larger
> > world of computing?
>
> How about a month of welcoming *all* contributors regardless of their
> skin color, their sexual orientation, their political viewpoints,
> their appearance?
>
> How about "all is welcome here"?
>
> Of course that does not mean to tolerate abusive behavior. It is of
> course important to set healthy boundaries by having a netiquette
> and/or a code of conduct that makes sense and actually enforce it.
>
> Love it not license. I can still love someone and set boundaries. I
> can still love someone and leave or ask them to leave.
>
> How about even extending that month of welcoming *all* contributors
> to… quite a long time?
>
> How about looking at what is needed to make *all* contributors be
> welcome here?
As this could be read as "Debian does not welcome everyone"… I'd like to
add a bit about the motivation of my post:
Actually it was motivated by my impression that some contributors indeed
felt marginalized, not welcomed by highlighting / supporting / promoting
pridemonth in this way. And I had the impression of attempts to discuss
this away.
For me it is important to first accept that. Welcome it. And then go from
there. Even if you do not agree with it. Agree to disagree.
That still means that pridemonth can be highlighted… but it is important
to at least acknowledge how some feel about it.
Actually I felt something like similar like this myself before (not
related to the pridemonth thing). There still a lot of oppression of
women and a lack of progress on equal pay for equal work and so on… I
acknowledge that. On the other hand with everything around feminism… I
sometimes wondered "So as a male I cannot have any feelings of being
excluded or unwelcome cause I am a member of a dominant group"? What if,
just what if I do not buy into that crap, but I am still made a member
of a group I do not identify with? This is violence as well. And beware
if I would even be a white male. Then I better shut up, cause… I am a
member of that dominant, violent, aggressive group. But what if, just
what if not every white, heterosexual male is violent or aggressive? I
even asked myself whether I would even be a man if I cannot see me as a
member of that group.
How about seeing what is beyond this? What do I see when I move beyond
those labels? What if am neither this body nor this mind? And what if
none of those labels actually refer to who I really am?
And how about power with one another instead of power over one another?
For me this is a key ingredient for being inclusive.
Feelings are just feelings. When they are there, denying them does not
make them go away. On the other hand they are not the truth.
One of the best things to do with them is to welcome them and see what
happens then.
I am not wrong for having felt what I described above. And so no one
else is wrong about having felt or feeling in any particular way.
Best.
--
Martin
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