GitHub Universe 2017 - Featured Sessions, 25 Oct 2017

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From YouTube: Transformative Change In Challenging Times - GitHub Universe 2017

Description

Hear from Monica Ann Arrambide, Queer Latinx Activist with 27 years working with LGBT+ youth in the nonprofit sector.

About GitHub Universe:
GitHub Universe is a two-day conference dedicated to the creativity and curiosity of the largest software community in the world. Sessions cover topics from team culture to open source software across industries and technologies.

For more information on GitHub Universe, check the website:
https://githubuniverse.com

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♪ (music) ♪.

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(Monica arrambide). What up! today is a big day.

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We were able to launch 2017 github universe.

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How great is that? pretty amazing and everybody was a part of that.

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Also,, this is a big day.. You know what today is besides this conference?.

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(Indistinct chatter) thank you.

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today is national coming out day.

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october 11th., so for those of you, amazing, queer,, gay,, fabulous folks.

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That are out and about in tech,, raise your hands.

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You are out and about,, proud of being who we are, ain't it?.

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Nice!, nice to see you.

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Now raise the hands of the allies, who are amazing about supporting.

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The lgtb team tech, making sure that they are thriving.

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And growing in the industry, raise your hands.

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Nice. thank you., so all the other folks who did not raise your hands,.

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Just know by the end of my presentation, you'll be coming: out.

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so,, ncod, national, coming out day--.

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The first national coming out day took place on october 11,, 1988.

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So when you think of the 80s,, what comes to mind?.

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Big hair, people walking around with shoulder pads.

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That are like football players.

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You're thinking of hairbands, all the way to michael jackson, doing the moonwalk.

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You might even be thinking of amazing films, like top gun,.

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Gremlins, e.t., what are other great things?, maybe technology..

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You are thinking about atari, nintendo,, mario brothers,.

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Going into spaces like this, that is all arcade.

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Walk-Man, you walking around jamming with your walk-man,.

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Maybe that's what you think when I say the 80s.

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I'm wondering if someone here.

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Was thinking about something that was really challenging.

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For the lgbt community in the 80s.

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That anybody,, when I say what comes to mind for the 80s,.

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That anybody, here, automatically,, think of hiv/aids.

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This was a big, big time..

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1988 was a time that was moving towards the peak.

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Of the hiv/aids crisis.

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We had individuals by the rate-- in metropolitan areas like new york and san francisco,,.

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The death rate in 1988 was 80 to 100 people.

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Passing away each week.

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That's a challenging time, isn't it?.

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We had half of the lgtb community running in and saying,.

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"Hey,, how are we going to support?? We need to do some action.".

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They got involved, did some protest, while the other half ran away,.

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Afraid of catching what this gay cancer was in the 80s, right?.

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When you think of 1988,, we had a president.

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Who could not utter the word? Aids.

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Yet by the closing of 1988,, we had over 25,000 americans.

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Who passed away from hiv/aids., but we could not have a president to utter these words as an epidemic,.

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Much less take direct action to do change to address the issue.

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So you might see some lgtb history and you see a lot of protesters back in the 80s wearing this t-shirt, that says, "silence equals death"--.

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That was because of the president at the time.

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The reagans were so busy focusing on the epidemic.

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That they saw was issue in the 80s-- for folks who lived in the 80s,. What was it?.

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Just say no! just say no to drugs!.

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They were more concerned about the epidemic that was happening with teenagers going on the playground at the back of their high-school, smoking, a little something-- that was the epidemic that they wanted to address.

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and dive in all this money. For this "just say: no" campaign,.

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While the lgbt crisis was unfolding out.

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To 80, to 100 deaths, a week.

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That was not an epidemic; they wanted to get involved. In.

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They couldn't utter the words., but reagan was able to utter this,. I didn't put it on a slide.

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Because I don't feel like it's worth that bit of attention to honor that., but what he was able to utter was this,.

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"My criticism is that the gays aren't just asking for civil rights,.

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It's asking for recognition and acceptance of an alternative lifestyle.

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Which I do not believe society can condone,, nor can I.".

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That's what he said.

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The gays--, I need a shirt that says: that. (laughs).

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The gays, I want the gays, right?.

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So when "act up" was actively live, going out and protesting.

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Trying to bring awareness, realizing that their brothers and sisters are falling.

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And the others are running away, scared,.

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We had protesters that would come out.

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And counter-protest the movement with white, surgical, masks.

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A representation of "you're sick., you're unworthy.

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You're evil, you're sinful,. You deserve that.".

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They had this white surgical mask,. When everybody was out there. Fighting, saying, "we need attention,".

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They would show up with this white surgical masks, saying, "you're, not worthy.",.

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So what is a climate??

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So, aside from aids in 1988,, we had icons.

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That we would say our lgbt icons, now--.

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George michael, k.d.lang,.

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At that time, in the peak of their career, they were not out as individuals,.

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They were fearful that it would be damaging for their career,, so they were very closeted at that time, in 1988.

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And if there were gay characters on television or in movies, guess what?.

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The characters were either dying of hiv/aids or they were beaten up and killed by the end of the episode or closing of the movie.

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That was a climate of being unable to come out at that time.

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What about the workforce??

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What about the tech sector, workforce?.

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Well,, you were pretty much invisible.

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You kept quiet., there were even personal ads out in gay papers, saying, "hey,, let's get married, that way. We can be undercover.".

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Be undercover from work, be undercover from their families,.

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That way, no one would question: what's going on.

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hey,, let's get married!.

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So if you were invisible and took a step to be invisible,.

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You were either pushed out of a company like ibm,.

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Or you were fired., that was the climate, the work climate at that time.

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So,, what do we talk about when we say transformative?, you know,? My whole presentation is about being a transformative change.

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In challenging times., what does that mean?? What am I talking, about?.

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It is about causing a marked change in someone or something., causing a marked change,, a kind of a transformation,.

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A proactiveness of it., so let's go back to national coming out day.

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It started off with the concept by one organization, saying,.

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"You know what?: we need to have a voice..

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We have to create a normalcy about being lgbt.

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Let's normalize it.: let's try to get a face,, an image,, a logo,, a speak,.

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For us to say 'hey,, we need to encourage our folks who are running.

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To come back and stand still and come out.' ".

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So that's what national coming out day, did.

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They asked one organization to step: forward, asked one artist to come: out, create a logo.

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That a community can back, just like "black lives, matters.".

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Create a message,, a campaign; so did ncod, national coming out. Day.

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In my time,, because I grow up in the 80s,, I remember national coming out day..

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I remember when it would hit every time wondering if that was the time I was going to come. Out.

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I was working with hiv/aids clients and youth at that time, too.

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Where we were doing mass funerals.

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People were dying at such a fast rate,. They were doing mass--.

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We did a service,, it was for 20 people,.

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We would do a service. almost at weekly bases,. That is the service that we did.

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I remember a story about a youth that came up to me and saying, "I'm hiv positive, and you know what?.

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I'm actually happy about that." and I said, "what. Are you talking about?", he said, "that way. I don't have to be fearful anymore..

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Now I have it and I can deal with it, right?".

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So fear of connecting,, not knowing what hiv/aids is.

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And how it got spread., so a move came with ncod saying, "hey,, let's put a name,.

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Let's come out,, let's normalize it with other individuals.

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Let's demonstrate that we are brothers and sisters, and teachers, and mothers, and fathers, and lawyers,.

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That is really important., then keith haring stepped up and said, "I'll. Take that challenge.. I want art to step up.".

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So, with one person on stage saying, "hey, come out.

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I encourage you to come, out," others follow suit.

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So, we had generals that were coming out..

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We had an olympic,, a gold medalist starting to come out.

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We had actors starting to come out,.

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All these years later, coming out trying to show that the people that you love,, the icons that you look up to are lgbt.

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So,, where are we now? 2017.?

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We are standing here in national coming out, day.

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What do you think?? Are we better??

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What do you think? well,? Does this look familiar to you?.

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Kind of looks like 1988.

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So, we have a president who doesn't have a problem. Uttering.

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We have a president that is uttering a lot of things.

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But we have a society that is being challenged and pushed.

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By the concepts and beliefs that this president has,.

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Just like in the 1980s, right?, so it is not being silent,, it's being, "hey,. Maybe you need to slow down and be quiet.".

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So, instead of a white surgical, mask,, what we have in 2017.

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That symbolizes hate and you're not good enough--.

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We have red hats., that's what shows up at the protest and counter-protesting, are red. Hats.

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What about our government?

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what's happening in the world and in the us?.

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We have states that are starting to pass bathroom bills.

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Because they are fearful of the queers in the bathrooms.

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Though there hasn't being one single incident.

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Of an lgbt person taking advantage of someone., but we've got to pass those laws-- we've got to pass them., so bathroom bills are starting to emerge..

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We have a military starting to question if a certain gender identity.

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Or a value are fundable to serve for our country.

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That's what happening.

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we have marriage equality,. Everybody celebrates that,.

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But now we are being trickled down and being pulled and tugged.

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To see how we can dismantle that.

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What about the workforce?? What about the tech, workforce?

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well,? We have 28 states in the united states.

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Where you can get fired for being an lgbt.

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28., but what's great about the tech sector is that they are actually being the movement towards lgbt tech inclusion, and regards to health.

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They are making sure that policies and benefits are included for their employees.. They are moving towards being the most innovative folks.

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When it comes to lgbt health., when they are building their skyrocket buildings,, they are still being challenged of understanding the value of gender-neutral bathrooms.

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So, let's think about the youth.

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The youth of today, 2017.

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Well,, if you identify as an lgtb person as a young person today,, your percentage of one of these has just skyrocketed.

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Lgbt youth comprise of the most highest percentage rate.

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Of everything that is listed on this, up here.

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And that has not changed since I was growing up..

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That is still the same. that hasn't changed. yes, more lgbt people are out,, but guess what?.

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The more visible,, which means they are much easier to target and attack.

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And you know what's creating that platform,, that makes it easier?.

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technology.: this is the thing that is shaping 2017.

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It's technology. technology has transformed how we connect.

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And look at each other, right?.

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So when you think of the landscape of technology.

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And who is building technology,, who comes to mind?.

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Who are the people that come to mind when you think of technology--.

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These are innovators,. These are amazing, people.

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Do these folks come to mind?.

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What about the founder of computer science?.

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The reason why we are all standing in here or sitting in here today.

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Is an lgbt person.? Isn't that amazing? I'm talking about national coming out day.?

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We also have an amazing person,, the first american astronaut,.

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Female astronaut in space was lgbt.

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And yet she was not even out in her whole career,.

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She had a partner,, she died,, no one knew that,.

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But her obituary honored her partner in it.

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and that's how we know this person was lgbt.

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We had the cto of america.

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Our third cto of america, lgbt,, megan smith.

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All these are people that we are honoring in the tech scene.

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when you think of the tech sector,. Do you see these individuals?.

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How are we uplifting our lgbt folks when we talk about technology?.

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How are we doing this transformative, work?.

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I would like to think maven. Youth is doing that, we're doing that. we're a national non-profit.

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Our goal is to inspire a young person of today, in lgbt youth,.

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For being a consumer of technology, to be an innovator of technology., ten percent of the youth that touch our program are computer science-driven.

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They already know they are headed that way., but 90% of the youth that we touch have no clue.

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Because of resources, our lack of visibility of lgbt icons in tech, doing the work.

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We need to put ourselves into the landscape,, and that is what maven is doing..

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We've been doing summer camps, we have free summer camps.

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We are nationally,, so we are in new york, texas, here,.

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Boulder, indianapolis,, we are out there doing some amazing work,, a free program for queer youth to come and met other lgbt tech professionals..

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We are doing workshops,. We are even having youth leaders lead--.

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We are in a point now in our program,, where we are having young, lgbt individuals who came in our camp now, teaching and leading in our camp with other youth.

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Pretty amazing stuff.

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so, we do hackathons., we do hack, 4, queer youth-- that is actually coming up in november, in chicago..

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So we are building tech solutions for queer youth.

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We also do workshops,, we do internships,.

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We do all these amazing things. everything you can think. Of, black girls code-- black girls code, what they do, maven does too,, but our demographics are lgbt youth.

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How do this all get started?.

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It was an investment of github.

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Github was the first company that when we were approaching a concept or idea,.

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At the same time that black girls code was doing this.

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Same time,, just the concept, github said, "you, know what?. This is important.. We are going to fund this.".

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I had no services,, I had no program,. I had no evaluation to say,.

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"Hey,, look, we are doing great work.. Are you going to fund us?

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no,, I said, "hey,. I want to do this.. I want to create a program.

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That inspires lgbt youth to explore careers in tech.

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And github said, ", we are here." so,. When I said, "hey,, I want to do a summer. Camp.".

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And I don't even have computers,, I don't have laptops to do our summer. Camp.

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Github said, "no worries." "you can have all these computers here, go for it. build!".

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And because of github coming out with us.

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It changed and we are nationally now,.

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Because of github.

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github,, the power of one, right?, going back to national coming out day, one person stepping up and saying, "I am coming out for this.".

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Github did that for maven.

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because of github,. All these other sponsors came in suit too.

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Saying, "you know what?, let's back this." github got you,, we are stepping up and we are doing this great work. Too.

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And if your company is not listed on here,.

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It's time to come, out. didn't I say,, everybody is coming out today?.

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It is time to come. Out.

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your company is not listed,, they need to be listed., they need to be involved., github even went further., they didn't just give us cute shirts or stickers,.

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They didn't give us just computers, free space,, networking,, connecting,, building our curriculum--.

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You name it,, they've, been a part of.

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Github said, "you know what?. We are going beyond sponsorship.

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And in-kind stuff,: we are going to invest in the work that you do.

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and they stepped up and said, "what. Can you do with a $100,000?".

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And I said, "ohh!, I can do a lot.".

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I hope the power of one, this one company, github,, investing at this level,.

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Other companies will come in suit and say, "we need an uplift,, lgbt youth and technology.

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We need a change of landscape that when we see who is building tools,, it looks different,.

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And github is right there at their door.

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Once again, national coming out day,- and these are the [actions] that I ask of you.

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and honoring 20 years later,- we are 20 years later doing national coming out day.

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I am asking you to mentor an lgbt young person.

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We need mentorships,, no matter what job you have.

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In our camps, we don't have like just developers,.

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We have people on hr, and media, communications, event, organizing.

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We want to show them when we say "tech,".

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There is a whole slew of people that can work in the tech, sector.

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So help us mentor, some of our lgbt young leaders.

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Maybe you can lead an lgbt initiative, inclusive policy in your company.

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Have you looked at the bennies with an lgbt eye?.

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Have you looked at your insurance with an lgbt eye?.

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Have you looked at your venue space with an lgbt eye?.

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Have you looked at your application,, your software,, with an lgbt eye?.

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You need to look with that lens to see what changes that need to be done.

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Maybe you can host an event,, maybe you can host an event for us,. We need hosting for our summer camps.

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When youth come to our camps,, our events are always hosted at a tech company..

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It helps us as a nonprofit;, it's huge.

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any other nonprofit person sitting in this room.

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When I say to you, ", I don't pay for my venue,.

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I don't pay for the meals for the youth,, I don't pay for the materials,.

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All that's included in the whole scene." they'll be like, "what?" (laughs) "how is that possible?", so maybe something that you can do is host us.

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In this room,, the pink elephant in this room.

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Is I do have privilege.

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you have privilege by sitting in the space.?

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Some of you are getting paid today, just to be educated.

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Some of you have a program at your company that matches the donation,.

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That, maybe you haven't thought about donating to any nonprofit before?.

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But yet your company will match it?, that's privilege.

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And because of the challenging times that we are living today,.

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I am saying to you,: you can hear my voice,, that privilege is revolved., that privilege of being a bystander and pointing at other nonprofits,.

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And being like, "oh!, they are going to address the issue.".

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"Oh, that activist group that's out there on the streets,.

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They are going to make changes." no, no no! november election changed that.

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November, changed your privilege of being a bystander.

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That's been revoked., you need to take a step., you need to come out and be proactive.

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So please, think about all these ways that you can come out,.

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And the community, where you can come out at work.

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The last thing I ask is stepping up and being a champion.

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For lgbt youth and tech,- and that is a big step.

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That is the last step on the scene., because maybe you need to tack all these little things before you can take this larger step.

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But it is about time that everybody can think about investing in this community.

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And lastly,, I want to leave you with that-- github, once again, being the amazing company that they are.

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Is doing a benefit concert tonight.

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the neon trees, tonight. get your ticket and you come and kick it with us. Tonight.

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Maybe you want some of these cool little shirts, I'm wearing,.

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Limited edition,, vintage, right here.

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come to the concert. Tonight, celebrate.

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Let's celebrate tonight because the next day you are going to have to work hard towards some of the other changes of coming out, right?.

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Let's come together as a community and celebrate 20 years of national coming out, day.

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So, thank you., (applause), ♪, (music) ♪.