Re:An Open Letter to the Python Software Foundation
by plufz on Wednesday December 06, 2023 @07:27PM
(#38551341)
> I must say, this whole thread is full of uninformed stereotypes, and posters would benefit from firsthand experience of the world.
LBTQ and HR activists often protest international conferences and events held in countries with lacking human rights. To be frank, I don't think that is because we are uninformed.
Of course the risk as a caucasian traveller to get life imprisonment in Tanzania is very low, but life in prison is a risk I would avoid even if the risk is low. Since you have traveled so extensively what would your advice be to my gay friend who had to flee for his life from a neighbouring African country. Is he safe to visit this python conference?
Re:An Open Letter to the Python Software Foundation
by OfSanguineFire on Thursday December 07, 2023 @06:42AM
(#38555345)
I’m not interested in giving advice to individuals about whether they can travel somewhere or not, though in your case the question immediately arises as to how authorities would know that your friend is gay if he kept his orientation to himself. My post above only emphasized that when gay travelers look at the situation and make their choice about whether to travel to certain countries or not, obviously some of them choose to go regardless.
The answer seems to be yes for at least some number of travelers. I have traveled the Muslim world and sub-Saharan Africa extensively and I have met plenty of fellow travelers who are gay, whether individuals or even gay couples. The couples simply don’t show affection in public, but heterosexual couples shouldn’t either. Even sharing a room as two men or two women is no issue, because the locals will assume you are friends unless you explicitly, deliberately, tell them otherwise.
And twice when I got the contact info of local Europeans living in the region who were known for extending hospitality to any travelers coming through, I arrived to find that it was a gay couple who had been there for decades. I must say, this whole thread is full of uninformed stereotypes, and posters would benefit from firsthand experience of the world.