4 ms·

As a transgender woman, I am delighted to see petition. Stallman fired a trans employee of the FSF who was being harassed by a fellow employee. The employee wh

by ktm5j 6y ago

As a transgender woman, I am delighted to see petition. Stallman fired a trans employee of the FSF who was being harassed by a fellow employee. The employee who did the harassing talked to Stallman about the matter and Stallman chose to fire the trans person.. We have a really hard time existing in the tech world (and the world in general), and I just can't stand the fact that this type of behavior goes without consequence. - https://www.reddit.com/r/transgender/comments/539x50/breaking_the_free_software_foundation_dismissed_a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/transgender/comments/539x50/breakin...

jimmy2020 6y ago
I always thought tech is the most friendly environment when it comes to transgenders in general. Supposed to be the most progressive place on earth.
- ktm5j 6y ago
  It's a total boys club. I would have expected that people who self identify as progressive/liberal wouldn't treat me like I'm less than human, but I was wrong about that too. Maybe it's the state where I live, my town is famous for being host to a big white supremacy rally a few years back (you may be able to guess) and people are just awful here. But I've heard reports of harassment and discrimination from trans women who live in blue states all the same.
- ktm5j 6y ago
  I should add, I am lucky enough to be working with a wonderful group of people, who are the most accepting and supportive people in my life right now.. but that's just the small team I'm working with, I was in a different part of my organization before coming out and I did not feel like I could transition while working with those people. My old boss was coming from a liberal ivy league university in a blue state, and he turned out to be a huge misogynist/xenophobe. People make jokes all the time that they think are "no big deal" and they don't seem to understand at all how hurtful words can be when you're facing harassment, hostility, threats from total strangers all day long.
  - jimmy2020 6y ago
    I am glad that you finally found a safe workplace to work and people who accept you as you are. Feel sad to hear that tech is a "boys club" it shouldn't be this way. If you don't feel safe where you work how can you function properly in society, where you may face rejection and hostility. This is so wrong.
tzs 6y ago
The page that that Reddit submission links to was changed later to redirect to an update about six months after that post, apologizing for the accusations. In fact, the person who made the accusations has a page from a couple weeks ago calling for people to defend RMS and specifically saying that he is not transphobic [1]. [1] https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html
- ktm5j 6y ago
  Whoops, that's embarrassing I should have checked the link.. I had saved that post in reddit and went back to it assumed it was unchanged. I still am in awe at some of the things he has said with impunity. Including comments he made about child pornography that are verified and abhorrent. That's incidentally another topic that is kind of sensitive for me, being the victim of sexual abuse as a child.. so perhaps I'm not without bias here, but I feel like the people who idolize this person are willfully unaware of his true character. Like I said, trans women (and women in general) have a really hard time existing in the tech world and people like stallman are entirely the problem. So many people enable this kind of behavior and it makes me deeply sad to see that happen.
  - sildur 6y ago
    > I still am in awe at some of the things he has said with impunity. Including comments he made about child pornography that are verified and abhorrent. Which comments? As an aside, I'm too a victim, but I think people should be reeducated, not punished (that American obsession with punishment...) for what they do, not for what they say. Crazy about how many people want to punish another people for what they say, in the land of freedom of speech. I must be missing something, honestly.

by ktm5j 6y ago

jimmy2020 6y ago

I always thought tech is the most friendly environment when it comes to transgenders in general. Supposed to be the most progressive place on earth.

ktm5j 6y ago
It's a total boys club. I would have expected that people who self identify as progressive/liberal wouldn't treat me like I'm less than human, but I was wrong about that too. Maybe it's the state where I live, my town is famous for being host to a big white supremacy rally a few years back (you may be able to guess) and people are just awful here. But I've heard reports of harassment and discrimination from trans women who live in blue states all the same.
ktm5j 6y ago
I should add, I am lucky enough to be working with a wonderful group of people, who are the most accepting and supportive people in my life right now.. but that's just the small team I'm working with, I was in a different part of my organization before coming out and I did not feel like I could transition while working with those people. My old boss was coming from a liberal ivy league university in a blue state, and he turned out to be a huge misogynist/xenophobe. People make jokes all the time that they think are "no big deal" and they don't seem to understand at all how hurtful words can be when you're facing harassment, hostility, threats from total strangers all day long.
- jimmy2020 6y ago
  I am glad that you finally found a safe workplace to work and people who accept you as you are. Feel sad to hear that tech is a "boys club" it shouldn't be this way. If you don't feel safe where you work how can you function properly in society, where you may face rejection and hostility. This is so wrong.

tzs 6y ago

The page that that Reddit submission links to was changed later to redirect to an update about six months after that post, apologizing for the accusations. In fact, the person who made the accusations has a page from a couple weeks ago calling for people to defend RMS and specifically saying that he is not transphobic [1]. [1] https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html

ktm5j 6y ago
Whoops, that's embarrassing I should have checked the link.. I had saved that post in reddit and went back to it assumed it was unchanged. I still am in awe at some of the things he has said with impunity. Including comments he made about child pornography that are verified and abhorrent. That's incidentally another topic that is kind of sensitive for me, being the victim of sexual abuse as a child.. so perhaps I'm not without bias here, but I feel like the people who idolize this person are willfully unaware of his true character. Like I said, trans women (and women in general) have a really hard time existing in the tech world and people like stallman are entirely the problem. So many people enable this kind of behavior and it makes me deeply sad to see that happen.
- sildur 6y ago
  > I still am in awe at some of the things he has said with impunity. Including comments he made about child pornography that are verified and abhorrent. Which comments? As an aside, I'm too a victim, but I think people should be reeducated, not punished (that American obsession with punishment...) for what they do, not for what they say. Crazy about how many people want to punish another people for what they say, in the land of freedom of speech. I must be missing something, honestly.