Kevin Rutherford
says:
We had a Friendly space policy and that was invoked at the conference, which is not illegal for an organization to do, as it is their own private event. As MONGO said below, I don't have anything against you or Kohs, but I also don't find anything controversial in this whole event since it seems like people are just trying to manufacture a controversy out of something that was invoked to help make people feel more comfortable.
The Friendly Space policy wasn't invoked
at the conference at all, but 18 hours before the conference began. The policy does not have remit over precognition, "crystal ball" sorts of hypotheses.
Regardless, if all it takes to discriminate against certain attendees is the voice of one or two "uncomfortable" prospective attendees, I should hope that there are enough Wikipediocracy affiliates who attend Wikimedia conferences, that we shall never see the throat-stabber* Oliver Keyes, or the woman-burner* Ryan Kaldari, gracing the floor of a Wikimedia conference ever again.
I'll also note that someone at the WikiConference USA must have been made "uncomfortable" by African-Americans, because I didn't see one of them at the conference, in a location with the "largest population of self-defined black residents of any U.S. city". It's not discrimination, folks -- it's "comfort"!
*
These individuals don't themselves actually carry out throat stabbings or woman burnings, but their endorsement of such activity is "close enough" under the guidelines of the Friendly Space policy, to cause attendees "discomfort".