User:Rdpierce/Making the Space Safe for Marginalized People

The Problem

Pumping Station: One has historically failed to keep marginalized people safe. The space has had various Membership Agreements, Non-Discrimination Policies, and bodies like the Dispute Resolution Committee, but the problems persist. In large part, this happens because safety for marginalized people is not built into the organization’s culture. Removing a member is, by design, difficult. Bad actors who make the space unsafe for marginalized groups count on this. They know that nothing short of a truly egregious offense will ever have consequences beyond a metaphoric slap on the wrist. Likewise, marginalized groups know they are not protected. PS:One has a poor reputation within the queer community. It has lost women members due to the space’s inability to handle sexual harassment with zero tolerance. Victims don’t come forward if they believe doing so will not accomplish anything substantive. As queer and other marginalized persons frequently self-exclude from the space, this creates a self-reinforcing dynamic. Significant effort is needed at this point to break the cycle and restore trust.

Typical corporate DEI training cannot, by itself, fix the problem when bad actors know they will not face consequences for their actions. Likewise, an updated Community Code of Conduct by itself cannot stop bad actors, when they assume it will never be enforced against them.

Proposed Solution

Solutions include:

public acknowledgement of harm, especially with specifics.

public transparency of actions taken and, most importantly, leadership owning and admitting what was insufficient about the response and why that happened.
public transparent efforts to overhaul processes accordingly, including things like “we need to be able to ban bigots and abusers as a part of this process so that our 'Community Code of Conduct' will mean anything.
hosting and supporting queer community run events and groups in the space, specifically to re-invite back marginalized persons into our community so reputation repair can begin.