>>>>> "Gerardo" == Gerardo Ballabio <gerardo.ballabio@gmail.com> writes:
Gerardo, somehow you've taken the discussion from terms used in Debian
elections to abortion politics and use of people's preferred pronouns.
You could have found examples from within a Debian context. They were
right there: diversity and its use in init systems.
You did not need to choose politically loaded examples for topics that
don't really belong on -project (and certainly not -vote).
But there's one aspect of this I need to explicitly respond to.
I understand and support Steve's anger at your message.
But to be crystal clear:
>>
>> For example (forgive me if this might seem off-topic, but I think
>> that working out the details of an actual example is necessary to
>> make my point clear), I do not feel that I should acknowledge
>> people's requests to refer to them by their "preferred
>> pronouns". That is because I believe that people's sexual
>> identities are determined by objective facts, such as which
>> chromosomes are there in their DNA, and not by how they
>> subjectively "perceive themselves". So when I refuse to refer to
>> a person with XY chromosomes as "she", or to abuse the English
>> language by calling an individual "they", in fact I am defending
>> my world view, and you must not deprive me of that right.
In adopting the Diversity Statement and the Code of Conduct we've
committed to welcoming people to the project regardless of how they
identify the project. Welcoming people includes respecting their
preferred pronouns; people cannot be welcome if we are misgendering them
and causing them to feel alienated.
Striving to use the appropriate pronouns is a requisite for being
welcome in this community.
It's not always easy, and we all make mistakes.
But intentionally choosing not to use someone's preferred pronouns is
inconsistent with the respect demanded of the Code of Conduct.
Debating whether people get to have preferred pronouns or whether things
like singular they are appropriate in the English we use in Debian is
off-topic for Debian discussion fora.
To the extent that such debates were useful, we've already had them many
times.
Sam Hartman
Debian Project Leader
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