 to transitioning with WordPress, how to create welcoming communities in WordPress. Thankfully, everybody seems really chill here today, so I'm gonna not have to be all grumpy at the beginning and potentially kick people out. So ignore this. Instead, I will tell you a story. I don't know exactly where this story comes from, but I've seen it enough times on the internet, and even if it's not real-life true, I still think it's valid. A man is visiting New York City. He sits down at a dive bar just looking to kind of escape. And while he's sitting there drinking, another man comes in. Looks kind of like, not dissimilar to me, but wearing like a punk rock vest, a bunch of different symbols he doesn't recognize. And immediately the bartender goes, no, get out to the man. And the guy goes, okay, no problem. Walks out, doesn't want to cause any trouble. And it seems weird to this guy sitting in the bar, like why are you kicking this guy out? He hadn't said anything, he hadn't done anything. Said, well, you didn't see his jacket. You didn't see the symbols. And I did, I've been at places like this, and this is how it starts. Guy comes in seemingly very friendly to everyone. Everything seems really chill, but he's got a couple of symbols that relate to the Nazi regime. And some of them are a little more subtle. You know, it's not gonna be open and swaffed because that sort of thing. It's gonna be more like the hidden meanings that those in the know understand what those symbols mean. And it's a signal that this place is safe. And so that guy will then probably bring a friend. And that guy will also seem pretty chill and be friendly and it's like making friends with people. And oh no, we see we're just normal people, we just have different views. But then more and more of them come in. And then all of a sudden one day you realize you're the bartender at the Nazi bar. So that should give you a general idea of something I'm gonna talk about later, but I wanna plant that seed now. The key to all of this is the true path to tolerance is that you have to be intolerant of intolerance. So a little bit about myself. Been a WordPress developer since 2013. Got started as a career change and it just kind of stuck. I went freelance in 2015 and I've bounced around, done some freelance, went back to agency, back and forth. I'm now a codable expert, have been for about a year. I'm a mom to three kids, two dogs, two cats, a partridge in a pear tree. And I'm pretty sure one of my daughters is gonna insist on getting an axolotl at some point sometime soon. I'm also a YouTuber, which is why my wife is currently filming me. Hopefully the sound is good because I really wanna use it. And the opening of my talk can suggest I'm kind of a troublemaker. I've been a WordPress or a WordCamp organizer and had to resign twice in the span of what, six months, David, was it six months? There were issues and it's mostly because I don't tolerate BS. I'm gonna tell that story as part of the talk though, so I won't spoil it now. I've also been transitioning since 2021 this time and we'll talk about that later too. So how did WordPress make my transition easier? The great thing is you've already seen here is WordPress is a very open, free community. There is no barrier to entry with WordPress. The software itself is free and while WordPress and building with WordPress is not 100% free because I gotta pay for servers, that sort of thing, it's a very low barrier to entry and if you have access to even something like WordPress.com, it is free on certain plans. There are local WordCamps, there are regional WordCamps such as like WordCamp US and then there are also international ones, WordCamp Europe in it. There have been WordCamp ages, I know that's been difficult because of COVID and all of that. And for the most part, people are pretty open-minded. They're willing to listen. It's not always the case, but for the most part and there is a long-standing support for members of the LGBTQ plus community. Pretty much from the very beginning, queer people have been part of WordPress and so acceptance of queer people has been baked into the culture from the very beginning. So this is not my first rodeo as I mentioned. I previously, in about 2017, tried to transition and it did not go as well. It wasn't though because of WordPress. WordPress was the thing that made it good. My talk in 2017, WordCamp Miami, if you, I'll say it here, my dead name is Adam, so if you've heard of Adam Suzie, that's still me and this was actually at WordCamp Miami so I think this was 2019. That was pretty much my coming out party for my first attempt at transition and if you find my talk from the WordCamp Miami 2017 on WordPress.tv, you can see what I looked like and everyone was amazing. I had a few friends that didn't know it was coming because I had talked to a few people like giving them a heads up to just get their, how do you think this is gonna go? And so I did surprise some people but the basic question was like, oh, what's this about? And I was like, well, I'm trans, I'm transitioning. Like, oh, cool. And we moved on with the conversation, it was that quick. There was no like, let's talk about your surgeries and all that I get online all the time. Of course, my family support specifically, my first marriage didn't go so well and that's kind of why I took a break and tried to go back to being cis and it just didn't take. So I tried again and because of my negative experience my family, I was worried and I didn't know how things were gonna go with work because I knew, well, WordPress as a community is cool but not everybody within the community can be. It's a, you still have to go on a case by case basis. But thankfully I was doing, even though I was freelance, I was doing a lot of agency work with one specific agency and I was on their team page. So I was like, hey, I'm gonna start transitioning, I have a new name, you're like, yeah, no problem. Give us a new name, give us a picture which I didn't even have a photo yet and I just had an illustration. So I used that as my team photo and they were totally cool with that. Like everybody else was like, and I was professional picture and then you have this. And I was like, they're like, yeah, no problem. You don't have a picture, it's no big deal. So social media support within the WordPress community was fantastic. And it really, I was starting the social transition first because the first time, because I had issues with social transition before I started medical transition, I was afraid to start it and stop it again but the response of the community was what made me feel safe. And it's why I was able to start HRT a few months later and really feel confident that this was the path forward for the rest of my life. And it's that safety and that community support that made it happen. It also helped that I'd been through it a little bit. I'd gone through the process of openly transitioning, being public in a space where I didn't know most of the people. Like I had, you know, some people that I knew but not everybody and everyone was really chill. I was never confronted. There were no issues with, you know, and this was happening in Miami in the bathroom in Florida and there were no issues. A few weeks later, when I went to word camp Orlando, which is kind of my home base anyway, and I was an organizer, there were still no issues and it was like, okay, this is pretty chill. So I thought like, yeah, I can do this. I'm gonna be totally fine. But what if I didn't feel safe? So I mentioned, and I wasn't gonna put a picture of that guy so that's the best you get. I resigned twice from my position as an organizer within WordPress Orlando. The first was over politics but not in the way you would think. There was just some concerns over whether or not having an elected official of any kind was acceptable because we had booked it as our keynote speaker and then there was this whole thing. And a bunch of us kind of basically resigned in protest when she was kind of unceremoniously removed from the schedule entirely without telling us. And there was a whole thing and it's in the past it's been resolved but that's why I resigned the first time. The next, for the next organizing cycle, I was the co-lead organizer. And around that time, this is pre January 6th, you know, even pre-election, this was pre COVID technically. There was a public discussion about whether or not we should allow people wearing red make America great. Again, hats at word camps. Because there is kind of a general, like, you know, we don't kind of talk about politics but it was more of a like, they want to be able to wear the hat and they can't say anything about it but they just want to be able to wear the hat. I had conversations specifically with people of color within my community, within my organizing committee. And I said, how do you guys feel about this? And at the time I was a cis-presenting, male-presenting person. And I'm obviously white. And so I said, I know that my job as an ally is to be, and especially in my position as a co-lead organizer, I need to be the one that takes the stand. You don't have to put yourself out there, I will. I did not expect it to go as poorly as it did but they had told me openly, we view this as a hate symbol. It makes us uncomfortable just seeing someone walk into a room wearing that hat. It makes us feel unsafe. And as a queer person, I felt that. So I understood. And I made a very public statement once the conversation started going. And I said, in my capacity as an organizer, I'll do everything I can to ban MAGA hats from word camps, at least Word Camp Orlando, it's not welcome. Very quickly, my fellow co-organizer had to issue a statement that that was not the official statement of Word Camp Orlando, and that I was doing that on my own. And then I became one of the features of a long article on the topic on WP Tavern. And basically was made an example of, and while these words were not used, what more common vernacular, I was basically the woke ideology being pushed on WordPress. And I got eviscerated so poorly in the comments that it became, the story became more, and the conversation was more about me and other people that were also taking a stand to the point where I had no other choice but to resign and stop being the story. And interestingly enough, the story went away not too long after I resigned. So it kind of had the right effect, at least for us. I was concerned. And then COVID happened and made all of it irrelevant anyway. But as a result, I kind of walked away from the WordPress community and it made me, because that safety that I had felt was gone. And I knew other queer people felt that way too. And to make matters worse now, you know, we're here, it's interesting being in Georgia, I feel so much safer than being in my home state. Even though Georgia is known for conservative politics, you know, I live in the national hellscape that is Florida. And even though I live in the Disney Orlando bubble, I used to drive back and forth to work and through Polk County, which if you've heard of Sheriff Grady Judd, you know why I'd be a little bit concerned. It is technically illegal for me to use certain bathrooms in my home state. And as an organizer and for a word camp, like this is a state university, I believe. It's not a private school. So if this was Florida, I would have to use the men's room because if I'm on public property, I can't use the women's restroom. I have to use the one that I was assigned at birth. That's a huge issue and a huge safety concern, especially because like this is, most word camps happen on the weekends, but sometimes it's a public, you know, there are other students. When we were at Word Camp Miami, there were students walking around all the time. That would have been a huge problem for me. So here's what we have to do. Step one, establish a code of conduct. Obviously local laws apply here, but that means you have to choose a safe venue, which means as a word camp organizer in the state of Florida right now, if you want to be inclusive to trans people, gender non-conforming people, you cannot hold your events in a public-owned facility. You just can't, it's not safe. And you have to establish a code of conduct. I believe Mike, I'm gonna butcher his last name, Demopolis. Did I say that right? Close enough. Everybody calls him Demo. If you know Demo, you know who I'm talking about. He's been working on a code of conduct and he released the first version, I believe it was for Word Camp U.S. I know you know. Yeah, so the first time it was really tested was Word Camp U.S. And it's just a very queer-inclusive version. But most importantly, be intolerant of intolerance. Do not allow the hateful views to take hold because once that seed is planted in even one person, it can grow and it will spread faster than COVID ever will. So I kind of told the story, but let's open up for questions. Fuehler, I'm not that scary, I promise. I'm really nice. I was gonna say, yeah, Dave and I literally meet every week, so. Any questions at all? Yep? So, Florida and over, is the only restricted laws? So the question is, are there any other states like Florida that have similar anti-trans laws? Yes and no, not nearly to the extent that Florida has gone, famously in North Carolina, they did try in 2016 with HB2, the first of like the bathroom bills. The interesting thing, and that's a great segue, the funny thing about the changing political climate is in 2016, it was one state that tried it and there was massive outrage. From pretty much every level of society, even within conservative political circles, this feels like a bit much and this could be bad and everybody basically listened and North Carolina withdrew that. But as we've seen the growing changes within this country, more and more states are trying again and they're trying in different ways. We could have a whole discussion about the politics behind this that aren't necessarily relevant, but no one's gone as far as Florida has, but the next legislative session isn't that far away. And because there has not been a successful legal challenge to this bill in Florida, it's likely that we will see other states follow suit. So because that's the other thing is like people see, oh, it's Florida, it's weird, DeSantis and all of that. This is not a one person thing. This is a concerned movement to eradicate gender non-conforming people from society, quite frankly, I'll stop short of using a term I usually use on social media, but that is what is happening. Yes. Going back to your story in Miami where you were the co-organizer and all of that, and please excuse my ignorance, but why wasn't there some type of board or why didn't a sponsor step in during that time when we were basically being publicly- So that's an excellent question. Basically it was why wasn't there someone that stepped in, you know, as an oversight into when I was basically being lambasted by the community? I think if it had happened more as like a social media thing, it would have been one thing, but WP Tavern is effectively the, like they are owned by WordPress.com, I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong? Okay, it's a hazy relationship at best, but they are essentially the journalistic voice of the WordPress community. And at the time the person that was editing and specifically the person that wrote the article has conservative political views and he uses editorial control to basically humiliate me. I'm not gonna name his name, but it happened, thank you. But it is really interesting that we've seen a shift because that was before a lot of the anti-trans laws and anything like, my being trans had nothing to do with it. It was just a question of politics. And the reason I bring this up is because I know not everybody pays attention to all the different drama that happens on social media and good for you if you're able to avoid it. Leading into WordCamp US. Every year for at least the last few years at WordCamp US, there's been a pride party. It's one of several parties that happened at WordCamp US. It's obviously in no way mandatory. It's just, here's a space for queer people to be safe and celebrate each other. It was marked as one of the official parties on the schedule this year. Oh, it wasn't even on the official schedule? Okay. Yeah, some people got the impression that there was. So a private company holding a private party that just happened to be related to the LGBT plus community and one of the attendees decided to make a big stink about it, why do we need to have this? Is this really necessary? And started making all these claims that it was an officially sponsored event and that it was on official publications and all of that and it was like, none of that was true, but it very quickly blew up and it became like, well, I'm just asking questions, why does this need to happen as a queer person who's maybe not out yet but wants to start finding that safe place and that sense of community that gives them the courage to be their full selves? How do you think that made them feel? If I remember going to the first word camp US in 2015, that's where I came out as trans to a lot of people, privately, well before I ever attempted transition. And it's where I met some trans people because it was, I had a conversation quite frankly with David here in this room and he said, oh, I need to introduce you to someone. And I've been friends with that person ever since. Like, that's how the queer community has always operated. It's like, once you're in, it's like, oh, well, let's introduce you to all of the other people that you need to know. And it's very inclusive and it makes you feel safe. And that's what WordPress's ethos has always been. Democratize publishing, bring people in and give them the tools to be themselves. But we can't do that if we're sending a message that also says, okay, all of these people that are gonna make this one segment of people feel unsafe, no, they're welcome too. And you can use, but we have to be welcoming of everyone. You don't. You can't be welcome to hate because hate grows. Because in the same way that like, David introduced me to a trans woman that I had never met and now we're friends. Maybe somebody sees a red hat and is like, oh, I kind of think that guy is cool too, let's talk. And then flash forward a couple of years, because this was free then, flash forward a couple of years and we see both of them on the news on January 6th. Like, it's, you have to be careful who you let in the door. There's a rule with vampires. They have to ask permission to come in. If you let the wrong one in, you get eaten. Maybe we shouldn't let our community get eaten. Yes. I'm fine because I'm gonna ask a question that I don't think I can answer. Okay. Some spaces, no matter instance where it ends, have further responsibilities such as the legal requirement of space on type of entities or the locations we know. Yes. Do you think that there, do you have any thoughts or ideas on how that can be correct as in people who perhaps we as a community might acknowledge would really enjoy being themselves here? Yeah. But you know, but we can't say you shouldn't come. I completely understand that. Basically, essentially the question is, word camps have a potentially illegal responsibility to not basically be discriminatory effectively. You can't deny people the same principles. Exactly. What we can do is have a very clear and well-established code of conduct that in the event that you violate the code of conduct, you are no longer welcome. Which means like you with your very specific political views or your quite frankly hateful views are welcome to come and learn. But if you intimidate, threaten, make comments that make someone else feel unsafe, that sort of thing, you are no longer welcome here. And that is kind of the different, it's like, and that's why we say like, you the person can come in. What you can't bring with you is your giant flashing red flag, literally a red hat in the argument here. That makes those, because by that action, you are making people feel unsafe. And therefore violating the code of conduct. Yes. So prior to word camp US this year, a code of conduct did not exist at all? Not true. Basically, the code of conduct I'm talking about was, so the question being, did that code of conduct exist prior to word camp US? And yes, it did. It was revised to be more specifically welcoming to queer people and to protect them. It was more, it was the work that's been being done by the community as a whole in part led by demo. He was the one that helped really kind of push it to the forefront toward the end and like make sure it got in place. Because obviously with, as we're experiencing now throughout the country, we needed to take a stand. And so he did. And he wasn't the only one that did it. It's just, he's the one I know for sure was involved. So, any other questions? Yeah, you're exactly right. Basically her comment, you know, we can't block people from being here, but they have to abide by the rules. And it is really that simple to use an example from my real life that has nothing to do with WordPress. Disney World doesn't, you know, Disney World wants everybody to come in. Trust me, I go there all the time and I see amazing, amazing things that you wouldn't expect people to wear in public. But if somebody complains about a shirt that you're wearing, whether it's liberal, conservative or otherwise, Disney will and has asked you to remove it because it's within their rules that you can't make people feel uncomfortable. The ones that make the news are typically actually on the opposite side of this, which is people wearing shirts that directly quote the US Constitution, specifically some references to Native Americans. And it was Native American activists wearing them at Disney that conservatives in the park saw the shirt and said, hey, we don't like this, this is making me feel uncomfortable. And Disney security gave the people two choices, leave or go to one of the gift shops buy a new shirt and change. So in the same way, like they're not discriminating, but they're saying we have rules here and we will enforce them. So it's a lot of it comes down to having that strong rule set and being willing to enforce it. I know we had an issue, I think it was in 2015 at WordCamp Orlando where somebody was making political comments, like it was even like during like the hallway chats or something, people were just talking and it was making someone uncomfortable and we didn't even find out about it until, yeah, afterwards because they reported it toward Camp Central. They didn't, because there wasn't, these code of conducts weren't quite as in places they are now. And then as a result, when we were planning 2016, they're like, well, the first thing we have to talk about is this incident that happened last year. Most of us were like, what? What incident? Because they didn't, there wasn't a procedure in place and that's why procedures are now in place for this. So sometimes it takes an incident to create the system. So let's create the system first so that we can avoid the incidents. Okay, anything else? All right. I am at Transcenderella on most socials as well as my website is actually live. I managed to get it up today after I got here and that's my email if you have questions as well. As far as socials, I am on YouTube, Instagram, and Blue Sky. I am technically on Twitter, but please don't bug me there, I try not to log in. It's a bad place for me. Thank you.