Sponsorship Policy Discussion, 2024-04-07

I can actually provide an answer to this: you don’t need to do any of this, at least initially. There is a large (albeit imperfect) amount of solidarity between marginalized groups, because different marginalized groups often end up having to deal with similar issues and barriers. This means that the most important step is to represent a marginalized group, and then work from there to gradually improve things.

Accommodating marginalized groups is always going to be a complex subject that will need to be tailored to the situation, and that makes it impractical to try and exhaustively define the solution upfront. Instead, it’s about creating space for marginalized folks in general (often only partly a policy issue, and much more cultural) and then continuously adapting the circumstances and policies as it becomes clear exactly where the representation gaps currently are.

As long as that space is created, I don’t think anyone is expecting a perfect solution to come rolling out of the oven, and one is not needed either. People can figure it out once the barriers to doing so are removed.

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