FIRST LGBT+ (A blog by and about LGBT+ people in FIRST)

[trumpthero786]

Hey Josh. This is a great thing that you are doing and it is a wonderful idea. I hope it springs off and makes the FIRST community even more accepting of differences than it already is.

[dmaggio744]

Just my two cents, i think this is a really cool idea! Sent my application in on the tumblr, cant wait to hear back!

[Mr_Moko]

Originally Posted by trumpthero786

Hey Josh. This is a great thing that you are doing and it is a wonderful idea. I hope it springs off and makes the FIRST community even more accepting of differences than it already is.

Thanks Humza! I hope that everyone, including our team can benefit from this!

[Red2486]

What a great idea! I've been hoping for something like this for a while!

Like mentioned earlier, I hope you include resources for mentors who want to make sure that their teams are as inclusive as possible! I can think of a number of ways that teams might be accidentally excluding students just because they don't know they are (it may be as little as using gender/sex interchangeably on team forms or as big as a mentor accidentally 'outing' a student to their family). As mentors, we spend a lot of time with these kids and I think it is important for us to understand their situations and hardships and to accomadate them accordingly.

I also think that if we want kids to dream of becoming "science and technology heroes" we have to make sure that they feel represented and welcome in science and technology. Well done!

[jds2001]

As a gay mentor (who, as some others in this thread have said, doesn't make a big deal about it to my team - in fact, I am so heteronormative that my team likely has no idea) I can see where there's non-inclusive language being used even on my team that makes me slightly uncomfortable. I'm able to just shrug it off and not worry about it. However, when I put myself in the shoes of a student, I can easily see how some of this language could make a student feel unwelcome and ostracized, especially if they weren't yet comfortable enough with themselves and figuring out their identity.

I think that this blog is a great idea. There definitely should be a diversity aspect to FIRST, and not just about sexual orientation and gender identity. Someone earlier in the thread said that discussions about racism, anti-Semitism, etc don't belong in FIRST. I couldn't disagree more - it's a discussion that needs to be urgently had. If a member of a group, whatever that is, is made to feel uncomfortable (or would be made to feel uncomfortable if they were present) in any way it is unacceptable. The conversation needs to happen right then and there about why the behavior is unacceptable and how to avoid it in the future.

[indieFan]

If you want to have a discussion about diversity and inclusion, shouldn't it be that we are all human and deserve similar opportunities? By creating separate blogs/posts/groups for each category, aren't you actually contributing to the lack of diversity and inclusion?

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by indieFan

If you want to have a discussion about diversity and inclusion, shouldn't it be that we are all human and deserve similar opportunities?

We absolutely all deserve similar opportunities. Unfortunately some members of our community are denied opportunities or excluded (directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally) because of their race/gender/sexual orientation/religion. It's for this reason that there's a need for specific attention for these groups; to help address the inequity they face.

[Leila Silver]

Originally Posted by indieFan

If you want to have a discussion about diversity and inclusion, shouldn't it be that we are all human and deserve similar opportunities? By creating separate blogs/posts/groups for each category, aren't you actually contributing to the lack of diversity and inclusion?

Not really. Each group has separate problems to address, and nuance may be lost by grouping all marginalized peoples together.

You are right in saying that we all deserve similar opportunities - however, the ways to them will vary from group to group.

[TheModMaster8]

honestly, to me. FIRST is about Science and technology, not so much political/social or cultural views, That to me seems like a team level fix and not a FIRST level fix, just my 2 cents

[New Lightning]

Originally Posted by TheModMaster8

honestly, to me. FIRST is about Science and technology, not so much political/social or cultural views, That to me seems like a team level fix and not a FIRST level fix, just my 2 cents

True I believe that most of the work will have to come from changes within teams. But having said that, having a movement that spans all of first, to help guide teams to the kind of changes that are necessary, will have a much larger impact than leaving it up to the individual teams to try and figure out what changes are needed.

[TheModMaster8]

Originally Posted by New Lightning

True I believe that most of the work will have to come from changes within teams. But having said that, having a movement that spans all of first, to help guide teams to the kind of changes that are necessary, will have a much larger impact than leaving it up to the individual teams to try and figure out what changes are needed.

That is true, Though normally (From what i've seen over my years) FIRST tries to steer clear of topic like these as they cause division amongst people. People normally don't like to be told what they should and shouldn't believe or run and not run their teams, as well as their views on matters such as this and others.
again... just my 2 cents

[Sperkowsky]

Just a quick note.

That logo violates First's branding standards. Essentially there is not enough whitespace between your words and the FIRST's logo vertically.

Its probably not a huge deal right now but in the long road if this gets as big as you want it could cause some issues.

You can check out the FIRST branding standards on this page.
http://www.firstinspires.org/brand

Good luck.

[Mr_Moko]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Just a quick note.

That logo violates First's branding standards. Essentially there is not enough whitespace between your words and the FIRST's logo vertically.

Its probably not a huge deal right now but in the long road if this gets as big as you want it could cause some issues.

There was an attempt to use the guidelines somewhere even though that was a little lost, though I am trying to contact FIRST about
A) Actually using their legal property for our logo
B) If there should be improvements so that the logo can fit better with the branding (Which there most definitely are)
Thank you for the heads up though!

Originally Posted by jds2001

As a gay mentor (who, as some others in this thread have said, doesn't make a big deal about it to my team - in fact, I am so heteronormative that my team likely has no idea) I can see where there's non-inclusive language being used even on my team that makes me slightly uncomfortable. I'm able to just shrug it off and not worry about it. However, when I put myself in the shoes of a student, I can easily see how some of this language could make a student feel unwelcome and ostracized, especially if they weren't yet comfortable enough with themselves and figuring out their identity.

We'll be doing our best to supply resources for mentors and students alike! Hopefully mentors will not only benefit by helping team members, but by feeling included themselves.
Though I'm sure many LGBT+ FIRST-ers know the feeling of team members saying things that would make them uncomfortable even when they don't realize it. I know that personally I do and it's a tad enlightening to see that even mentors feel that way!
Keep up the good work with your team!

Originally Posted by New Lightning

True I believe that most of the work will have to come from changes within teams. But having said that, having a movement that spans all of first, to help guide teams to the kind of changes that are necessary, will have a much larger impact than leaving it up to the individual teams to try and figure out what changes are needed.

As was said, changing FIRST as a whole would be a slow and arduous process that would most likely not go very well as there are clashes in beliefs, but going with teams at a time would be the way to go (like you said). Even if it were only a handful of students on a team that's still an impact that we want to have.
With that being said, we're not going to try our hand and force teams to be accepting of LGBT+ people, but we hope that people will see that it's the right thing to do because it effects more people within FIRST than people realize.

[grstex]

Originally Posted by indieFan

If you want to have a discussion about diversity and inclusion, shouldn't it be that we are all human and deserve similar opportunities? By creating separate blogs/posts/groups for each category, aren't you actually contributing to the lack of diversity and inclusion?

I think Josh's stated goals are to provide resources for everyone, with a emphasis on and perspective from the LGBT+ community. It may be a separate page, but its a resource everyone can utilize when trying to confront diversity issues. Would you say groups like NEMO segregate non-engineer mentors from the rest of the FIRST community?

Originally Posted by TheModMaster8

honestly, to me. FIRST is about Science and technology, not so much political/social or cultural views, That to me seems like a team level fix and not a FIRST level fix, just my 2 cents

I don't see how what Josh is doing is in conflict with your statement. He's an individual on a team, reaching out to provide support and a voice to others in the FIRST community. it's not like this is a mandate coming from New Hampshire.

Originally Posted by Mr_Moko

There was an attempt to use the guidelines somewhere even though that was a little lost, though I am trying to contact FIRST about
A) Actually using their legal property for our logo
B) If there should be improvements so that the logo can fit better with the branding (Which there most definitely are)
Thank you for the heads up though!

First of all, I commend you for taking the initiative and starting something new to further enrich the FIRST experience for everyone.

If it turns out you need to change the logo, PM me and I'll either help design or mentor a student in developing a new one.

[Aura_]

The thing that I believe that everyone is currently overlooking right now is how this topic irrelevant to the nature of FIRST. I am strongly against the ideas and beliefs of the LGBT+ society, but I do not think it is right to force my own opinions down someone else's throat. I do not see why it matters if a gay man writes an interesting blog post versus a straight one. It is not think that interacting with robots is a blatantly straight activity. I believe this post is just to present an uproar in the FIRST community to unite over some pointless propaganda for a new blog.