Re: IETF 100, Singapore -- proposed path forward and request for input

[Mikael Abrahamsson <[e-mail]>]

On Wed, 25 May 2016, Margaret Cullen wrote:

> is concerned that he could be _arrested_ for coming to the Singapore 
> IETF meeting with his family.  This is an issue of human rights and 
> personal safety, not an issue of convenience, paperwork, cost, etc.

I think you underestimate the risk of someone being denied entry to the US 
through this visa process, and the assesment some people might make on the 
risk of being arbitrarily detained in the US or even robbed/killed at 
gunpoint or being killed by a law enforcement officer who is scared for 
his life because of all the handguns carried by the US population. These 
are not inconvenience issues. Going to the US, especially while being 
non-white, looks to me as carrying real risk (and even while being white, 
I am still scared more while interacting with law enforcement in US than 
in almost any other country in the world).

If I were an LGBT person with the information I have, I'd rather go to 
Singapore than to the US. Others might make other assesment on the 
situation, but that is mine.

-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: [e-mail]