I understand that this is a very difficult situation, but I think you have left
something important out of your list of pros and cons. If we cancel the
Singapore meeting, we get to say _this_ to the Singapore government, who wants
us to meet there enough that they have offered us $150K in incentives for us to
come there:
“ Singapore laws against same-sex relationships between men and
preventing the recognition of same-sex marriages could create
difficulties for same-sex partners and their children; these have
discouraged affected members of our community from participating
at the IETF meeting in November of 2017 and have also influenced
others to decline to attend in principled solidarity with them.
Accordingly, the IETF has decided to postpone indefinitely the meeting
in Singapore and is pursuing alternative venues.”
If, instead, we hold this milestone meeting in Singapore despite the fact that
these issues have been raised, we are sending the message that we consider
basic human rights violations to be no more of a disincentive to visiting a
particular venue than visa issues, cost considerations, or other items that
have been raised in this discussion as examples of why “no venue is perfect”.
Margaret