I am fairly disturbed with where this discussion has ended up, because as I
understand it we are saying “Men having sex with other men is not actually
necessary for the work of the IETF, so it is okay to go to a country that
criminalizes it”. Would it have been okay to hold a meeting in apartheid South
Africa if we’d been able to visas for black colleagues affording them the
privileges of white people, so that they could gather? Would we hold a meeting
in a country where women can't own property, drive, or go out in public
unaccompanied, because those things are not technically required in order to do
the work of the IETF?
How much would it cost the IETF to rebook IETF 100 at this point? There must
be a dollar amount involved, but I haven’t seen it (did I miss something?). I
think the community should assess whether or not it is worth that cost to move
the meeting to another location. Maybe some of us would be willing to
contribute to a special fund to offset the cancellation costs?
Margaret