On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 9:09 AM, Margaret Cullen <margaretw42@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I understand that this is a very difficult situation, but I think you have left something important out of your list of pros and cons. If we cancel the Singapore meeting, we get to say _this_ to the Singapore government, who wants us to meet there enough that they have offered us $150K in incentives for us to come there:
> “ Singapore laws against same-sex relationships between men and
> preventing the recognition of same-sex marriages could create
> difficulties for same-sex partners and their children; these have
> discouraged affected members of our community from participating
> at the IETF meeting in November of 2017 and have also influenced
> others to decline to attend in principled solidarity with them.
>
>
> Accordingly, the IETF has decided to postpone indefinitely the meeting
> in Singapore and is pursuing alternative venues.”
If, instead, we hold this milestone meeting in Singapore despite the fact that these issues have been raised, we are sending the message that we consider basic human rights violations to be no more of a disincentive to visiting a particular venue than visa issues, cost considerations, or other items that have been raised in this discussion as examples of why “no venue is perfect”.
That's a fair point. So in case of cancellation, one more gain is Singapore Government's taking on this say in addition to not compromising some of our community members' right. The cost of getting to say this is still hotel cancellation loss, potential incentive loss, potentially not having an Asia meeting, plus extra human resources working on a new venue. In the end, the community has to weigh cost vs. gain and make a very difficult decision.
Margaret
_______________________________________________
Recentattendees mailing list
Recentattendees@xxxxxxxx
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/recentattendees