Proposal to update bellingham.codes Code of Conduct to specifically ban racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia.

[almccon]

Basically, this steals the first line of the subdued.social server rules (which were in turn borrowed from somewhere else) and adds them as the first line of the "Our Standards" section.

It simply adds the line: "No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia."

IMO a clear statement like this gives the moderation team stronger ground to stand on when dealing with certain kinds of offensive speech that isn't harassment that is specifically directed at another member of our community, yet would still create a chilling, unwelcoming environment to many historically oppressed groups.

I am very much open to suggestions about how a statement like this should be worded and where/how it should be incorporated into the CoC. Consider this PR as the opening of a conversation.

[airbr]

I support this pull request with a feeling that it or something like it must be a necessity for the long term growth and health of the group as it takes place on Slack or to have an online presence facing the internet. I have a number of comments but I would just say that these are not controversial proposals or definitions at all when one considers the existing code of conduct. These are an extra step of guidelines for the slack, that make it clearer that certain behaviors or content is unwelcome.

How this is implemented could take place in varying forms and ways that take into account mitigating factors, such as a first time issue, or genuine mistake and confusion, but we ought to have these standards as guide posts for keeping the Slack a inclusive and welcoming space.

An environment is not inclusive and welcoming if it does not do meaningful things to reject racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia. Bellingham Codes CoC is excellent but this is a meaningful step we could take to ensure the community is a happier and healthier place. My standards, speaking personally, are on the floor and I wish for people to just exceed these bare minimum expectations.

I recognize enormous goodwill and good faith in this community and the absolute rarity of any concerns of this nature.

[bparks]

I support this PR as is. However, I could also support any of the following modifications:

• append "is permitted"
• append "or discrimination is permitted" (and remove the "or" before "xenophobia")
• append "or discrimination toward any protected group is permitted" (and remove the "or" before "xenophobia")

Leaning toward the second one, but I'll leave it to the group to choose, if any change at all.