Queers and free and open source software

According to R M Stallman and Eric Raymond, FLOSS culture is exceptionally open to sexual diversity. If Code is Free, Why Not Me? argues that the same experimental and open attitude that characterises FLOSS development also means an unusual degree of sexual tolerance. This may be true, if a tad overly-idealistic — which would hardly be unusual in FLOSS circles.

The thing is, notions of 'sexual openness' may vary wildly — and most noticeably between women and men. FLOSS-inclined queers I talk to also seem to be experiencing a somewhat less open attitude towards gays and lesbians than touted in the literature. Annalee Newitz's response on salon.com points out that there is a marked cultural difference between the free/libre and open source communites. Free/libre software proponents have a strong moral commitment to cultural and political challenge and a strong libertarian commitment — outside the USA, there are even — gasp — socialists involved in free/libre software. Open source ideology tends to run along the spectrum from neo-libertarianism to neo-liberalism and its proponents are frequently culturally conservative. Readers of Raymond's blog, for example, will already have reeled at the borderline neo-con cultural commentary.

Overall, FLOSS development is overwhelmingly heterosexual-male. It is, indeed, obsessed with sex, but usually in such a way as to render the environment untenable for str8 women, uncomfortable for male queers and positively hostile to lesbians.

FLOSS's rather complacent idealisation of itself as 'always already' open and tolerant in every way is, in effect, an obstruction to change. If FLOSS is already perfect then anyone who isn't comfortable is just WHINING and ought to shut the fuck up.

It's not all doom and gloom though — there's some interesting stuff around in the blogosphere such as some Foucauldian musings on GPL–Queer or Gay? and the thigh-slapping Lesbian GNU and GNOME (Gay Operations — Overly Metrosexual Environment) and a brief intro to the gay geek on Gaiety.com.

Distro Queers

Some of the more community-orientated distros have developed women's spaces — often garnering some hostility from the str8 male majority. 'Official' queer spaces seem to be very thin on the ground.

• Gaybuntu is not a distro (as sometimes thought), but a group of queers who are into Ubuntu — some of whom are developers and some of whom are Ubuntu users. And not a moment too soon if the neanderthal responses on digg are anything to go by!
• Debian offers Gay Debian Wallpaper. Awww, cute!

Queer Geeks

Not specifically FLOSS, but gay and geeky.

• Technodykes community on Yahoo Groups — once you've gone through the rigmarole to access this 'adult' content
• Linux Lesbians community, also on Yahoo Groups
• Gay Geeks seems to be having technical difficulties at the moment, but good when it's working.
• Gay Geeks on Tribe — well, more gay geeks with links to blog and gaming networks etc.
• LiveJournal has a GayGeeks community
• The National Organisation of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals Inc (phew!) offers membership and support.
• There are quite a few local support groups (mostly in the USA) such as Queer Geeks, part local (UCSC campus) but also has interesting stuff online.

Queers with a FLOSS slant

There are lots of queer groups which also have a commitment to FLOSS.

• QueerZine Archive Project is a historical archive of queerzines past and present. It runs on open source and has a FOSS FAQ. Strong commitment to free culture values.