When I started as a developer, I didn't care who I talked to if I thought they could contribute something interesting. I wouldn't care what religion, gender or

When I started as a developer, I didn't care who I talked to if I thought they could contribute something interesting. I wouldn't care what religion, gender or country they were from - I was just interested in learning. I recently stopped going to tech conferences. I don't want to go to gender/sexuality/religion/you name it-equality conferences and it seems like thats the main topic in all tech conferences these days. Can someone bring back the technical discussions and throw out the bullies?