The Press announcement is up:

Voting Has Begun!

And with that, I close this thread.

Proposal
A thread for education on, and discussion of, all of the -isms (racism, ableism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) with the goal of being intentional about supporting all of our members and being good citizens in the world at large. This would be a place to ask questions, share educational links, and have difficult discussions (as needed).

I think it's a great idea, Glam. I, personally, have learned a lot of things I didn't know that I didn't know from buffistas (and others, but...) just on FB - sharing articles, videos, following wall convos, etc - and having a thread here as a resource and place to talk would be amazing. I think this is a great idea independent of what happened in the GGR thread. And, I mean, I wouldn't want anyone to feel burdened to educate, and I take responsibility for educating myself (or for having failed to do so, probably more often than not), but I would welcome this thread here.

Agree on the opportunity to discuss with Buffistas being most excellent. I'm envisioning seeing an article or video somewhere and bringing it here to discuss. As part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I love discussing those issues and why things are problematic. I also love when members of other marginalized groups do the same - such good education.

It would be nice to have a safe space to engage in these delicate discussions.

It's important to remember that a lot of these issues are still evolving. Elliott Page's announcement pointed out the awkward space where you don't want to refer to somebody by their dead name, but if you didn't have a picture handy or rattle off their filmography it might be unclear who you were referring to.

I've been called out on this board, and it's not comfortable but I have spent a lot of time thinking about those conversations and their implications.

I mean, sure, why not. If nobody is being forced to participate in the thread, I can’t imagine an objection to it. All for more edification and opportunity for discussion.

My one concern would be that while I don’t want to put any burden on members of whatever community to respond or participate, I also wouldn’t want it to be “here are white people/straight people/cis people explaining what’s right and wrong” either? Not sure how to explain or help that though.

It would be nice to have a safe space to engage in these delicate discussions.

Definitely safe, but not necessarily comfortable would be my definition.

I think we want to encourage the thinking. That is what we are about as Buffistas. We had a sort of horrible thing about 9/11 we don’t talk about, but it is real with a conversation between two people both of whom do not post here now and one who left completely. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to lose people.

My one concern would be that while I don’t want to put any burden on members of whatever community to respond or participate, I also wouldn’t want it to be “here are white people/straight people/cis people explaining what’s right and wrong” either? Not sure how to explain or help that though.

We all own educating ourselves. I agree that the more participation we have from people in those groups, the better. But in the absence, we still have to be committed to growth. Again, we don't put the onus of education on marginalized groups. We are fortunate when they (we) take part.

ETA: There are many (MANY) resources provided by folks in those marginalized communities, so it's not in the absence of those voices.

Ok yeah—I would hope people are pointing to those resources—def not meaning our marginalized members of whatever type would need to participate. But I’ve seen a lot of self congratulatory “look we are doing the work” among in groups before where if someone in the group they’re actually discussing came along, itd be obvious that they’re only vaguely touching on reality? If that makes sense? Not sure how that can be guided/avoided, but would hope we’d keep it in mind.

(ETA: this is obvi not voting against opening a thread! More “things to keep in mind once we have a thread”?)