[Lnc-business] Motion to be considered at November LNC meeting

[Daniel Wiener]

Arvin,

I understand and agree with the sentiments behind your proposal, that the
courteous thing to do is to address people in the manner they prefer.  For
example, if a woman wants her prefix to be Miss or Mrs. or Ms. or nothing,
I'm happy to oblige.  Starchild prefers "Starchild" and that's what I call
him.

But courtesy isn't something that's easily legislated or regulated.  It's
either extended by one person to another or it isn't.  I'm not opposed to
all standards of conduct.  For example, if we began addressing fellow LNC
members as "assholes" or "scumbags" or other more colorful terms, that
would exceed the normal rules of decorum (both implicitly and under
Robert's Rules) and would require corrective action.  But this doesn't rise
to that level, and we ought to be able to deal with it in a more informal
manner.

Dan

On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 3:35 PM, Arvin Vohra <arvin at arvinvohra.com> wrote:

> In order to not have this debate 200 times at the next meeting, I propose
> the following:
>
> 1. LNC members who request to be addressed without Mr. or Ms. should
> receive this courtesy from the chair.
>
> I would like to set aside 15 seconds or less for discussion. The purpose
> of "Mr." or "Mrs." is to show respect to our fellow LNC members. If using
> one of those titles instead does not show that person respect, then it
> defeats the entire purpose.
>
> We can get into all sorts of abstract discussion about the notion of
> gender itself being a socially constructed method to maintain the status
> quo, but I don't think we need to take it that far. If an LNC member makes
> a reasonable request for courtesy, it seems pretty obvious that we should
> honor that request.
>
> -Arvin
>
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