5 ms·

The Gay Tech Mafia

65 points by ksec 8mo ago

ksec 8mo ago
https://archive.is/cNktc https://archive.is/cNktc
dogleash 8mo ago
People have been comparing tech - the status games, power brokering, need to juggle context-dependent sets of morals, etc - to working in Hollywood for as long as I can remember. Under that mental model, the only thing surprising about this article is that WIRED would publish. It's conspiratorial and easy to construe as homophobic. This is an SF-based magazine that still has physical distribution. What editor in those shoes doesn't immediately spike a story like this? They know something.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
edm0nd 8mo ago
TIL YC is just a bunch of gay dudes
- kristopolous 8mo ago
  Who are also active in Republican politics.
- jajuuka 8mo ago
  They coming to get you Barbara, er, Brandon.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
perardi 8mo ago
I am 42. I came out when I was 19. I’ve worked in tech for 15 years, though no in the Valley. I have a snarky response, then a real response. Snark: Oh like a bunch of gays are capable of that level of coordination without it breaking into vicious drama and infighting. We can barely hold together a volleyball team sometimes. Real: Well, yes, a lot of gay guys do know each other, especially in dense urban cities like SF, NYC, and Chicago, because we are all in the same sports leagues, we go to the same bars, we go to the same circuit parties, and it’s natural to give someone you know an internal referral as a leg up, because it’s a lot easier to hire someone you know versus sifting through 1600 job applications from strangers.
- 3rodents 8mo ago
  Yes, exactly the same as fraternities — well, except that fraternities are more homoerotic.
ikeashark 8mo ago
Peter Thiel is gay??
- kristopolous 8mo ago
  This was like the biggest tech drama of 2007, but mostly because Theil successfully ran the journalism company that reported it out of business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker
  - nailer 8mo ago
    You mean because a trashy news article outed somebody as gay for clicks? By helping someone else whose sex tape was leaked without their consent? I’m sure you wouldn’t want your own private life leaked this way.
    - kristopolous 8mo ago
      If journalists were constrained by the consent of every public figure and institution they mention all you'd have is flowery propaganda. You can see what this would look like already by searching for prnewswire https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqKQgKIiNDQklTRkFnTWFoQUtEbkJ5Ym1WM2MzZHBjbVV1WTI5dEtBQVAB?ceid=US:en&oc=3 https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqKQgKIiNDQklTRkFnTWF... Companies pay to place those things and some outfits run them. It'd all look like that. Anyways, journalist reach out for comment and are supposed to consider the response of the parties involved but that's about it.
      - nailer 8mo ago
        Not publishing articles on other people’s sex lives is not “flowery propaganda”. Christ. That was an awful thing to defend, have a sense of shame and apologise Chris.
        kristopolous 8mo ago
        No. Finger wag elsewhere. Some journalism looks like TMZ and Business Insider.
shadowtree 8mo ago
"...part of “an insular, hypermasculine culture” in which “women are seen as totally redundant and completely unnecessary.” (A woman who once worked for a gay Republican startup founder describes it like this: “You get about the same amount of misogyny, but not the sexual harassment. So that’s nice.”)" Tried many times to explain this to women - cis straight men are not your blockers, especially fathers. Men who legit see you as redundant are. "Allies" has been such an DEI Orwellian term. Same with "racism" - up is down, left is right. Discrimination between Asians? Totally fine, zero attention, can't be true.
barfiure 8mo ago
[flagged]
tlarkworthy 8mo ago
Two husbands without kids, working in tech, have a huge amount of cash, time capacity and ideation opportunity. I felt these added up to a huge advantage for getting quality shit done and taking risks. Fair play.
michaeldoron 8mo ago
Are we done blaming tech industry ills on immigrants that we're now targeting people based on their sexual orientation? This reads like tabloid writing, focusing on irrelevant personal characteristics rather than the universal social dynamics at play. Are there nepotism, favor trading, and walled garden clubs at play here? Yes, of course, this is a field with a lot of money exchanging hands and people are using whatever advantage they can get. Did the tech scene in the bay area attract a higher than average number of gay people? Seems like it, similar to other minorities who are over-represented for various reasons. But focusing on a "Gay mafia" instead of the more universal dynamics that allow money and power to be concentrated in a small population seems like missing the mark and directing public rage at the wrong targets. We've done it before with targeting Jews, then lately people of Indian and east-Asian heritage, and now we seem to target gay people. If someone thinks the tech industry is not fully meritocratic, then they should tackle the dynamics that encourage that head on - the identity of the people who are over-represented will change over time, but the systemic dynamics that allow a non-meritocratic power concentration will remain.
- brewcejener 8mo ago
  [dead]
- esseph 8mo ago
  > This reads like tabloid writing, focusing on irrelevant personal characteristics rather than the universal social dynamics at play. https://postscript1794.substack.com/p/is-the-most-shocking-metoo-scandal https://postscript1794.substack.com/p/is-the-most-shocking-m... > Part of me wanted to ignore it in favor of other, more intellectual topics, and those topics are still the main focus of this Substack in general. However, I feel compelled to discuss this topic at least once. The thing about this particular rumor is just how frequently I have heard it over the years. Various iterations of the exact same story, but from very different people, with very different agendas, and at very different times. And it is striking to me how generally consistent it is. > Instead of discussing it myself, I’m merely going to post some screenshots of what other people have posted on this topic and simply note that what all these people are saying very much echoes what I and others have also heard for years. Make of that what you will.
OrangePilled 8mo ago
[dead]
alilleybrinker 8mo ago
Wired should retract this homophobic article. It takes an issue of people in power abusing that power, and ties it to their sexuality, as if the men abuse their power because they’re gay, or as if straight men never do similarly. Identifying abusive power structures is good, but writing about it in a way that centers the sexuality of the participants has the effect of demonizing a whole group of people unfairly. I am appalled that Wired published this.
- Spooky23 8mo ago
  You’re drawing the exact wrong conclusion. Building an old boys network was acknowledged by society as a problem. If I, as a straight white male, started a men’s club, excluded women, and conducted my company’s business there, I would (rightfully) be exposed to a claim of discrimination. The behavior is the problem. The exclusionary nature of these networks happens to be illegal in many US states, as sexual identity is a protected class. Doing the same nonsense at the Harvard club is equally noxious, not not illegal. There’s a number of very significant, very problematic power brokers wielding authority in tech companies now. The fact that a significant part of the cohort is gay is irrelevant - the fact they have a clique that is insular and possibly corrupt is. That commonality is no less relevant than the PayPal Mafia.
  - wormpilled 8mo ago
    > If I, as a straight white male, started a men’s club, excluded women, and conducted my company’s business there, I would (rightfully) be exposed to a claim of discrimination. No you wouldn't that's not how it works.
    - Spooky23 8mo ago
      I’ll let my mom know - she successfully sued an employer for doing just that.
- 4fterd4rk 8mo ago
  Oh come on. I'm a gay guy. This is exactly how gay guys are. Reality is not homophobic.
James_K 8mo ago
> This perception, for what it’s worth, runs counter to statistics: Between 2000 and 2022, the years for which data is available, only 0.5 percent of startup venture funding went to LGBTQ+ founders. The article seems to admit that its central premise is entirely made up. If a conservative 3% of people are some flavour of gay, then they are 6-fold underrepresented, at least in this area.
smitty1e 8mo ago
Form follows function, friends.

65 points by ksec 8mo ago

ksec 8mo ago

https://archive.is/cNktc https://archive.is/cNktc

People have been comparing tech - the status games, power brokering, need to juggle context-dependent sets of morals, etc - to working in Hollywood for as long as I can remember. Under that mental model, the only thing surprising about this article is that WIRED would publish. It's conspiratorial and easy to construe as homophobic. This is an SF-based magazine that still has physical distribution. What editor in those shoes doesn't immediately spike a story like this? They know something.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

edm0nd 8mo ago

TIL YC is just a bunch of gay dudes

kristopolous 8mo ago
Who are also active in Republican politics.
jajuuka 8mo ago
They coming to get you Barbara, er, Brandon.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

perardi 8mo ago

I am 42. I came out when I was 19. I’ve worked in tech for 15 years, though no in the Valley. I have a snarky response, then a real response. Snark: Oh like a bunch of gays are capable of that level of coordination without it breaking into vicious drama and infighting. We can barely hold together a volleyball team sometimes. Real: Well, yes, a lot of gay guys do know each other, especially in dense urban cities like SF, NYC, and Chicago, because we are all in the same sports leagues, we go to the same bars, we go to the same circuit parties, and it’s natural to give someone you know an internal referral as a leg up, because it’s a lot easier to hire someone you know versus sifting through 1600 job applications from strangers.

3rodents 8mo ago
Yes, exactly the same as fraternities — well, except that fraternities are more homoerotic.

ikeashark 8mo ago

Peter Thiel is gay??

kristopolous 8mo ago
This was like the biggest tech drama of 2007, but mostly because Theil successfully ran the journalism company that reported it out of business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker
- nailer 8mo ago
  You mean because a trashy news article outed somebody as gay for clicks? By helping someone else whose sex tape was leaked without their consent? I’m sure you wouldn’t want your own private life leaked this way.
  - kristopolous 8mo ago
    If journalists were constrained by the consent of every public figure and institution they mention all you'd have is flowery propaganda. You can see what this would look like already by searching for prnewswire https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqKQgKIiNDQklTRkFnTWFoQUtEbkJ5Ym1WM2MzZHBjbVV1WTI5dEtBQVAB?ceid=US:en&oc=3 https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqKQgKIiNDQklTRkFnTWF... Companies pay to place those things and some outfits run them. It'd all look like that. Anyways, journalist reach out for comment and are supposed to consider the response of the parties involved but that's about it.
    - nailer 8mo ago
      Not publishing articles on other people’s sex lives is not “flowery propaganda”. Christ. That was an awful thing to defend, have a sense of shame and apologise Chris.
      - kristopolous 8mo ago
        No. Finger wag elsewhere. Some journalism looks like TMZ and Business Insider.

shadowtree 8mo ago

"...part of “an insular, hypermasculine culture” in which “women are seen as totally redundant and completely unnecessary.” (A woman who once worked for a gay Republican startup founder describes it like this: “You get about the same amount of misogyny, but not the sexual harassment. So that’s nice.”)" Tried many times to explain this to women - cis straight men are not your blockers, especially fathers. Men who legit see you as redundant are. "Allies" has been such an DEI Orwellian term. Same with "racism" - up is down, left is right. Discrimination between Asians? Totally fine, zero attention, can't be true.

barfiure 8mo ago

[flagged]

tlarkworthy 8mo ago

Two husbands without kids, working in tech, have a huge amount of cash, time capacity and ideation opportunity. I felt these added up to a huge advantage for getting quality shit done and taking risks. Fair play.

michaeldoron 8mo ago

Are we done blaming tech industry ills on immigrants that we're now targeting people based on their sexual orientation? This reads like tabloid writing, focusing on irrelevant personal characteristics rather than the universal social dynamics at play. Are there nepotism, favor trading, and walled garden clubs at play here? Yes, of course, this is a field with a lot of money exchanging hands and people are using whatever advantage they can get. Did the tech scene in the bay area attract a higher than average number of gay people? Seems like it, similar to other minorities who are over-represented for various reasons. But focusing on a "Gay mafia" instead of the more universal dynamics that allow money and power to be concentrated in a small population seems like missing the mark and directing public rage at the wrong targets. We've done it before with targeting Jews, then lately people of Indian and east-Asian heritage, and now we seem to target gay people. If someone thinks the tech industry is not fully meritocratic, then they should tackle the dynamics that encourage that head on - the identity of the people who are over-represented will change over time, but the systemic dynamics that allow a non-meritocratic power concentration will remain.

brewcejener 8mo ago
[dead]
esseph 8mo ago
> This reads like tabloid writing, focusing on irrelevant personal characteristics rather than the universal social dynamics at play. https://postscript1794.substack.com/p/is-the-most-shocking-metoo-scandal https://postscript1794.substack.com/p/is-the-most-shocking-m... > Part of me wanted to ignore it in favor of other, more intellectual topics, and those topics are still the main focus of this Substack in general. However, I feel compelled to discuss this topic at least once. The thing about this particular rumor is just how frequently I have heard it over the years. Various iterations of the exact same story, but from very different people, with very different agendas, and at very different times. And it is striking to me how generally consistent it is. > Instead of discussing it myself, I’m merely going to post some screenshots of what other people have posted on this topic and simply note that what all these people are saying very much echoes what I and others have also heard for years. Make of that what you will.

OrangePilled 8mo ago

[dead]

alilleybrinker 8mo ago

Wired should retract this homophobic article. It takes an issue of people in power abusing that power, and ties it to their sexuality, as if the men abuse their power because they’re gay, or as if straight men never do similarly. Identifying abusive power structures is good, but writing about it in a way that centers the sexuality of the participants has the effect of demonizing a whole group of people unfairly. I am appalled that Wired published this.

Spooky23 8mo ago
You’re drawing the exact wrong conclusion. Building an old boys network was acknowledged by society as a problem. If I, as a straight white male, started a men’s club, excluded women, and conducted my company’s business there, I would (rightfully) be exposed to a claim of discrimination. The behavior is the problem. The exclusionary nature of these networks happens to be illegal in many US states, as sexual identity is a protected class. Doing the same nonsense at the Harvard club is equally noxious, not not illegal. There’s a number of very significant, very problematic power brokers wielding authority in tech companies now. The fact that a significant part of the cohort is gay is irrelevant - the fact they have a clique that is insular and possibly corrupt is. That commonality is no less relevant than the PayPal Mafia.
- wormpilled 8mo ago
  > If I, as a straight white male, started a men’s club, excluded women, and conducted my company’s business there, I would (rightfully) be exposed to a claim of discrimination. No you wouldn't that's not how it works.
  - Spooky23 8mo ago
    I’ll let my mom know - she successfully sued an employer for doing just that.
4fterd4rk 8mo ago
Oh come on. I'm a gay guy. This is exactly how gay guys are. Reality is not homophobic.

James_K 8mo ago

> This perception, for what it’s worth, runs counter to statistics: Between 2000 and 2022, the years for which data is available, only 0.5 percent of startup venture funding went to LGBTQ+ founders. The article seems to admit that its central premise is entirely made up. If a conservative 3% of people are some flavour of gay, then they are 6-fold underrepresented, at least in this area.

smitty1e 8mo ago

Form follows function, friends.