While I am not sure about the exact cause, I believe this was done in order to avoid making commentary on a political figure.
RECF, as a non political organization, is restricted to making non political statements, so something like “mistreatment or discrimination towards people is bad” is ok (from a political not personal standpoint).
“I dont like what the governor is doing” would not be.
Again, I’m not exactly sure about the reason, but I would guess it is something along the lines of this.
We are dedicated to keeping our workers safe 
. We hear you and your concerns . We are working very hard to make sure this doesn’t happen again . Back to work
and the argument is that the State of Texas by order has made it not so.
Perhaps you should read the thread before posting.
These concerns are real.
I did not flag your inflammatory post, and probably regret not having done so.
OK, I’ll bite.
Is your opinion that there is no reason transgender people in particular should feel concerned about going to Texas?
Or is their additional level of concern legitimate, in which case is it a privilege of the oppressed to be told “you may be oppressed, but I support you, I’ve got your back”?
What exactly is the unfair privilege they’re receiving?
haha hey guess what the good thing about the internet is the free will to not make insensitive comments and create a whole account for the purpose of arguing on the trans safety thread
i dont want to assume but im going to say that you arent trans so maybe let the people who are actually concerned about their safety discuss this instead of coming to a thread to argue why the safety of trans students is not important
if you disagree with the subject of a thread maybe DONT open it
Im thankful you gave us a response along with the code of conduct to show the consequences of not complying, but the post doesn’t really answer the main question of the thread: Will the REC do more to keep trans students safe? If the answer is no, it’s best to tell us why as students and mentors can only draw assumptions. We do not know what’s going on inside the foundation so we can not settle with a post that doesn’t explain.
If everyone who disagreed with the general consensus of a thread just ignored it, we would not have debate. I believe people have a God-given right to free speech, by which I mean, the right to say what they think, the right to say what they don’t think, the right to disagree. I think people have said right even when every other person in the world disagrees with the opinion they express.
You have the right to free speech, which is to say the government cannot penalize you for your speech, but communities can chose to do whatever they want. The question, in my mind, is does this speech contribute in a meaningful way to the discussion at hand, whether or not I agree with the point being made? Or, to quote the guidelines you linked
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
So, saying
“While I completely disagree with the governor’s order, it’s too late to do anything now, and these contracts are signed years in advance, so there would likely be severe consequences for ending that contract early” adds to the conversation
“I think Dan is limited in what he can say because of nonprofit political lobbying laws, so maybe this is as much as he can say” adds to the conversation
But rejecting the idea that transgender people should have any concerns about going to Texas, calling the discussion “woke stuff”, and somehow turning it into a problem for the group who doesn’t have a law challenging the legitimacy of their existence does nothing to add to the conversation.
What many of us are saying is that RECF has an ethical responsibility as a member of the Texas business community; an organization that both serves and benefits from trans students, coaches, referees, judges, staff, and volunteers; and a business that depends on the safety and well-being of the people who power its programs; to use whatever power it has to loudly speak up against actions by the state of Texas that harm the business and tourism climate in Texas which, in turn, harms VEX.
It’s not enough to say RECF is going to create a “protective bubble of tolerance” at Worlds. That is allowing the injustice to stand and forcing us to endure it while obliging us to tacitly endorse it with our registration fees, hotel fees, van rentals, food purchases, etc.
I’m grateful to Dan Mantz for his post and for listening to what people are saying; but I agree with others that I’d like to hear something a little more concrete and pro-active about what RECF will do. Continuing with business as usual in Texas is going to be a deal-breaker for my school. I don’t know how many others may also feel that way.
Let me try to give an analogy I think might help. Imagine Worlds was still in Anaheim, and California made a law that… let’s say praying with your children below the age of 18 was child abuse. They’re simply not old enough yet to make the decision to pray. They’re not making Christianity illegal, your child can still be Christian, but if you take the action of praying with your child, that is child abuse.
I imagine your reaction would be very similar to the reactions in this thread.
I just hope that since vex is hosting the event, that all bias and whatever stupid laws or whatever that is in place in Texas will not be applied. everyone should be treated as if worlds was in any other place in the world. No state should decide how vex should treat their participants.
Like @Railgunawesome said RECF and Vex are non political organizations.
So this is why I assume They haven’t made more concrete statements. also How are you endorsing transphobia and transphobic laws by participating in a robotics tournament? i mean sure They have to pay the convention center which pays taxes to the state and stuff but like really? Do you think that you not going to worlds and not paying for services is going To change the way the govonr of Texas feels about trans kids ? Also idk if any one has mentioned this yet but it really is outside of their control they had already announced and reserved the new location before the govoners statements. sure they can boycott and refuse to host worlds but that would just cost them a massive amount of money and time as well as throwing away the opportunity for kids who are passionate about robotics to compete and if i were the govoner of Texas i would take them canceling the event as a win since all of the trans coaches, teams and volunteers wouldn’t be coming to my state, i feel that it is better that the Robotics community as a whole takes initiatives to be inclusive. Also are you planning to completely stop doing vex robotics? Because as long as you buy Pices from Vex and pay for team registration your still indirectly funding the government of texas if you want to put it that way?
Also if i said something here that really offends you please PM me about it so we cant talk it over.
I’ve always disliked this line of reasoning. When I go to vote it’s not because I think my vote will change the outcome of the election, I vote because lots of people voting changes the outcomes of elections, and every single one of them needs to make that same choice to vote.
One single person, or even something as large as VEX, cannot singlehandedly make or break collective actions. But if everybody simply says “what will my voice alone do?” and goes about their business as normal, there can be no collective actions.
Ok I’ll admit your right it takes many small actions in order to make a changer wether its the one vote like you said or one team boycotting. But how many teams do you think will boycott Worlds and throw away their shot for this cause? I would honestly love to know.
Hold up, Timmy. Who said it was guaranteed that trans students would be discriminated against and not allowed certain rights? boycott only if you know it’s gonna happen. What happens if you boycott and it turns out there wasn’t going to be any shady stuff going on? you just threw away your chance at worlds for a cause that you thought you had to fight for just to realize that at that point your fighting nothing ( what I mean is AT THIS WORLDS. I don’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist. it especially does in texas. but it is not ensured it is going to happen.)
Yes your making making good point I probably worded that wrong that is what I meant ty
The “shady stuff,” as you put it, has already happened. It IS going on right now. We’re not “waiting” to see what’s going to happen; we’re reacting to the hostile environment that has already been created by the words and actions of the Governor and the AG. I hope that clarifies things a little.
well, see we are talking about what the governor said about the Texas citizens and their children. Vex worlds is a event that goes all across america and has the same rules where ever it goes, and it shouldnt be different here. ANd you cant predict the future as to if something will happen. nobody can. you can make your statement about traeting everyone equal and talk to the higher ups but at the end of the day, you just have to go and hope for the best. the only actions you can control are your own. If the Texans decide to be equal or not, its up to them. Im not saying its right for them to treat people differently, just saying you cant change their actions. you can only try to tell them what they are doing is wrong. whether or not they listen, only time will tell.
Any examples you would care to point out of trans students from other states being discriminates against by the pubic because they went to Texas to compete or for other recreational reasons? Even trans students having their rights being violated who native to texas? As far as I can tell the government is limiting gender affirming care but the citizens themselves are not going out of their way to harass the kids, of course ther are always the radical outliers but I feel like the average population isn’t going out of their way to discriminate.
And i must ask, how can the Texas goverment file child abuse charges on a parent who lives out of there state and out of their juristdiction, not to mention that any surgerey of some sort most likly didnt happen in Texas? it didnt happen there, they dont live there, so the Texas goverment should have no say so over this.
and i agree with @TimmyOsborne . i dont think the general public will be discritatory towards any trans students (like he said there are a select few, but the majority of the public doesnt back it.) and its stupid that anyone would focus on a students gender or sexuality. We are here for robotics. focus on robots, not how people live their life.