Will trans students be safe at Vex Worlds?

[mae]

I’m asking this on behalf of myself and others I know in the Vex community, a similar thread was posted about this last year but this issue has really raised alarm with recent developments in Texas’s laws and state legislature.

LGBTQ+ people make up a very significant portion of the Vex community. However, executive orders and proposed bills are making it a risk for many to attend Vex Worlds. Transgender members of the community are at a huge risk, with restrictions both passed and proposed — some that would even make my and other students’ mere presence at Vex Worlds illegal.

I hope that who we are will never get in the way of the things that bring us all together. Given that VEX has established the location of the championship event, what steps or safeguards will VEX take to ensure the safety of its members, mentors, and coaches?

mae, and a few friends

[Illyana]

This was Dan’s response from the similar topic a year ago on vf:

Will trans students be and feel safe at the 2022 VEX World Championship?

With these paragraphs being the most substantial part:

@DanMantz

It is heartbreaking that any group of students may feel unwelcome or unsafe at any REC Foundation event. The REC Foundation is absolutely committed to the safety, diversity, equity, and inclusion of everyone in our community, per our Code of Conduct . We hold ourselves and our community accountable for respectful, safe, and ethical conduct at all REC Foundation-hosted or sanctioned events, including the upcoming VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, TX. Students from all cultures, backgrounds, and identities across the globe are always welcome.

I have always felt that our robotics community is one group of people with a shared passion for STEM and a common language of robotics and I encourage the RECF community to treat everyone as equal.

Which in my understanding, essentially, translates to this:

We at RECF are mostly nice people who honestly want to advance the causes of STEM without stepping into any hot waters.

We wish we could freely speak our minds and unequivocally reassure all students that they could feel safe around all vrc events. But we are afraid of pissing off alienating educators and sponsors in either liberal or conservative states.

So, unfortunatelly, we will continue to say words that sound nice but have very little substantial meaning, because, honestly, we are afraid of our Texas-rural gun-toting neighbors, some of whom not only are homo- and trans-phobic, but are outright bats**t crazy, and we never know when they could decide to go postal on us.

I am sorry for Mr. Mantz, who has to live there year long. No wonder, he takes every opportunity to travel to vrc events outside of Texas.

[Kajunii]

Options for our community could include:
-Load up! Get ready to deal those texans back a taste of their own medicine!
-Defensive robots, good options include catapults, wall-bots, and ballista’s!
-In a worst case scenario, have a reverse 8-bar to hoist you away from those that cannot handle you!

[Amanda]

As a trans person that went to worlds last year, it was fine.
I didnt really go outside the convention center, my hotel was attached, so the most I did in the city was walk a couple blocks to my friends hotel.

But inside in the actual competition it was great, most people are focused on robots, not your gender, and regardless everyone I met was super nice, including meeting like 4 other trans people. I could go on for days about how ridiculous the laws are getting, especially in texas, but for worlds itself, the Vex community was very welcoming to everyone

[anon17567986]

i will help my trans homies and stand up to any hate.