[TriLUG] Palmer for another SC term; proposed amendment to the bylaws

[Barry Peddycord III]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

> 1 - Not tolerating harassment, and avoiding gender and sexual 
> orientation bias (which seems to be a large component of the 
> policy) , should be an obvious part of *any* discourse in *any* 
> civilized society.  TriLUG does not have, and does not need, an 
> anti-slavery policy, because we do not have a membership which 
> would tolerate enslaving other members.

Given the number of incidents among tech groups and conferences [1]
and the fact that North Carolina pretty much passed an amendment to
its constitution that codifies such discrimination, there are any
number of reasons for a rational person to believe otherwise. The
current stigma is that technical groups like *UGs don't take
discrimination seriously and dismiss (or, at worst, retaliate) against
newcomers who file grievances. This reinforces the exclusion they feel
when they are subjected to harassment in the first place.

I feel like there are three components to a good anti-harassment
policy: what we expect from the members of our community and guests in
our home, the procedures to file grievances, and what someone who
files a grievance can expect. It's part PR and part procedure, and I'm
under the impression that the proposed bylaw is a little lacking on
the procedure side, since the expectations are fuzzy.

Putting this into our bylaws won't end harassment, but it lets
everyone know whose side we're on when the chips are down.

Most sincerely,
Barry Peddycord III

[1] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Incidents

PS: Since harassment is a necessary precondition of slavery, this
proposed bylaw kills two birds with one stone. :)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJReS21AAoJEHuunagdgjYNDCAH/3qDswmsnxDR/c95m/ke8LUg
0KCdx6MDhlKs0FSvEMQbxp6gC6ght/SPzCtsv5vOKuyIpAbvcqJgsONqzuO7srMx
2Y5wjolBHnIpwqOVALVBFVfu7RPFE75ws7R/r7W1gAYwo05l3GhrVJTNCD+lRJBn
+q4rNiUmkB6YsPZ7juoBX2206H4OnmkCRvx2z0kPeYjHityea3vSwUIQ/RqG1hxp
RoFpcaAlvdwZSGVojHT4KvvGHyX9ZojPnupSIZrsIQodN8iFZB9Qc2GyxutX1cEl
fJuJlPuztuiWsoZPTmAubQYGrABJgPm4GyV8CsZPRAb+wpFNickhlsI+kqn2aRo=
=/5NQ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----