

LGBTQ in tech - daenney
https://daenney.github.io/2015/03/16/LGBTQ-in-tech.html

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YuriNiyazov
This is topical because "The Imitation Game" has been in the news and movie
theaters recently:

I come from a Soviet immigrant family whose stance on all things LGBTQ is
predictably conservative. Sometime in high school, as part of my interest in
CS, I read Turing's life story. The story of a man whose contributions were
fundamental to my chosen field being persecuted due to his sexual orientation
cinched my views on the matter: talent and contribution are everything, the
rest is private and irrelevant.

~~~
serve_yay
> talent and contribution are everything, the rest is private and irrelevant

Indeed. However, sometimes this viewpoint is considered "erasure" \-- if I say
your sexuality/gender/ethnicity is irrelevant to code, that's really me
eliminating it from the picture of who you are as a person.

It's an interesting conundrum, because while these things shouldn't get in the
way, at the same time, we want people to feel comfortable. We don't want
people to feel that they must downplay or cover up parts of themselves. So we
want to care about these things, but caring about them too much is bad also
(because then we'd be fetishizing).

~~~
Kalium
There's a basic conflict between people who consider identity contextually
relevant and people who consider identity universally relevant. To the former
group, all that matters is that you did good work, full stop. To the latter
group, that's erasure.

------
caryme
I think a lot of folks tend to assume others are like themselves. Sometimes
difference is obvious: my female and asian coworkers are obviously not white
men like me.

Sometimes we assume others like the things we like. This year, I got a secret
santa gift of an inflatable portal 2 turret. Although I'm a software
developer, I don't play video games; the gift was lost on me.

When we're talking about diversity, we need to move beyond assuming
homogeneity and seek to understand and celebrate difference. Getting there can
mean visibility, and that can be tough.

Gay people, bi people, trans people, and some people of color can fade into
the background if we don't make our presence known. Wearing that rainbow
Mickey at a conference could mean a lot to a queer person who feels alone in
the tech world.

I think that a lot of people in tech have experienced growing up being
different. Different in some way that made people uncomfortable, didn't help
them fit in, and possibly got them made fun of.

At least so far, I've found the tech world a pretty easy place to be gay. But
I do make sure to come out early at every place I've worked. Not only does it
avoid any awkward (for both parties) questions about a girlfriend, it helps us
move toward a world where we celebrate our differences.

