Re: Concerns about Singapore

[Melinda Shore <[e-mail]>]

On 4/9/16 11:01 AM, Fred Baker (fred) wrote:
> One could mention sodomy laws in Texas; we have met in Houstaon and
> Dalls, I believe, there times.

That goes, I think, to the question of unenforceable laws
(Lawrence v. Texas).  I'm interested in the question of where
the line is between issues that the IETF needs to deal with
and matters of personal conscience, and I tend to think it
comes down to questions of whether or not meeting participants
will be treated equally when it comes to public accommodation,
etc.

As we're seeing, businesses are responding to the recent spate of
anti-gay legislation and transphobic potty laws by announcing that
they're not  opening planned facilities in those states, not allowing
their employees to take business travel there, and so on.  So, there's
an actual question about whether or not the IETF would be able to
meet in a place that's recently passed anti-gay legislation, given
some corporate travel restrictions.  As far as I know there are
no corporate bans on travel to Singapore, but civil liberties
organizations like Civil Rights Watch have identified Singapore as
a place where LGBT people still face active legal discrimination
and it seems clear that there's a legitimate question about what
sort of treatment some meeting participants can expect to receive.

Melinda