Community Guidelines

Thank you for attending SQS 2024! To ensure a safe and inclusive environment for everyone, SQS'24 has community guidelines that we ask all our attendees to adhere to. By attending this event, you agree to abide by these guidelines. We seek your cooperation to make SQS 2024 a safe and enjoyable event for everyone!

General Confidentiality Policy

• SQS 2024 uses Chatham House Rule as its policy on confidentiality.
  
  “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
  
  This means that, outside of SQS 2024, you may discuss findings and conversations that came up during the event, but you are not allowed to discuss who shared these views or experiences (be they presenters or other audience members).
  (Reference: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule)
  
  

• We also ask that you take special care to avoid discussing any specific details that are likely to lead to the identification of people or incidents discussed in anecdotes raised during presentations or audience sharings.

• Outside of SQS 2024, you should also not reveal the identities of any attendees (without their consent) to people who were not present at SQS 2024.

• At no point within or outside of SQS 2024 should you share the sexuality, gender, or other queer identities of anyone without their consent. (i.e., you should not “out” anyone without their consent)

Photography & Videography Policy

• To protect the privacy of all presenters and attendees, general photography or video recording of the presentation and other attendees are strictly not allowed unless granted consent by all parties in the photo.

  • Photo-taking is allowed against a wall or window backdrop, where all parties included in the photo have given explicit consent, and there is no one else that can be seen in the photo who has not given their consent (even if they are back-facing or not clearly identifiable).

• Photo-taking will be done by the organisers and trusted partners. Presentations may also be video-recorded. These are intended for archival, publicity, and security purposes. By attending this event, you consent to the organizer making these recordings and using them on public platforms, if the need arises.

• However, if you do not consent to have any photographs or video-recordings of you used by the organisers on public platforms, you must inform the organizers during registration when you enter the event venue. You will receive a sticker to identify you, so that your likeness will not be included on any subsequent public materials and there will be a dedicated no photo seating zone.

• Please inform the organisers via email (sgqueersymposium@gmail.com) should you want to revoke your consent to the public use of photos/videos of you after the event. However, the organisers shall not be held responsible for third-party circulation of our public materials where consent has been revoked after these materials have already been posted.
  
  

Discussion and Q&A Policy

• The aim of SQS 2024 is to jumpstart lively debate and forge networks and collaborations between queer researchers, thinkers, artists, and practitioners.

• In this spirit, please share your views respectfully. Always practise empathy when discussing any topics, especially if there is a likelihood for the topic to trigger difficult emotions for others.

• We strongly encourage you to avoid giving any negative feedback or criticisms to presenters without first seeking their permission, even if your feedback is well-intentioned and/or constructively phrased. This applies both during Q&A sessions and in private conversations with presenters.

  • We discourage: “This research is not anything new or innovative, I’m not sure what your research gap is.”

  • We discourage: “I’m not sure the claims you made can be drawn from the data that you shared.”

  • We encourage: affirmations - e.g., “Your presentation was really interesting and got me thinking more about queer families!”

  • We encourage: clarifying - e.g., “I was a bit confused about the part where you discussed the concept of queer time, could you elaborate?”

  • We encourage: good-faith questioning - e.g., “I was wondering what are your thoughts on how your research can be extended using quantitative methods?”

  • We encourage: giving suggestions - e.g., “I think your research sounds really interesting. Perhaps in the future you could explore this in a youth context too!”

  • We encourage: connecting your research/ideas to theirs - e.g., “I’m also doing work on queer identities, and your research really made me think about the diversity of identities. I would love to link up and have a deeper conversation.”

• If the presenter explicitly welcomes more incisive or critical feedback, please give feedback in an encouraging, affirming, and constructive manner.

• Any comments made that involve criticisms of a person’s character or identity, or are obviously malicious / not in good faith will be considered harassment and the offender will be immediately asked to leave the event.

Harassment & Offensive Speech Policy

• This is a private event. The organisers reserve the right to remove anyone deemed to be causing harm to any participant. Any form of harassment is strictly not tolerated. In the event of harassment, the organiser will direct the harasser to leave the event space. Not respecting this direction constitutes unlawful trespassing.

• Harassment includes non-consensual interactions. Please be mindful of boundaries as they may vary among individuals.

• We understand that discussion topics may involve intimacy, love/dating, and sex. As these topics can be sensitive, we ask that you discuss these maturely and respect the boundaries of others.

• Offensive speech will not be tolerated. This includes expressing views that are obviously queerphobic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, or otherwise calls for the discrimination of certain groups or invalidation of people’s self-understandings.

• We will be providing stickers for participants to write their names/pseudonyms and pronouns. We ask that you address other attendees using what they have written on their stickers. In other words, do not reveal a person’s real name or other identifiable details without their consent.

• We also ask that you use people’s correct pronouns. Deliberate attempts to misgender people will be considered harassment.

• Publicly insulting the character of presenters or other attendees will be considered harassment. If there are any concerns that people have regarding specific presenters or attendees, they should approach the organisers privately with their concerns.

• If you feel you are being harassed, please approach the organisers or volunteers immediately. If this happens outside of the event, please contact the organisers via email (sgqueersymposium@gmail.com).

Food, Drinks, and Use of Space

• Food and drinks are allowed during the event within the event premises. You are encouraged to bring and consume your lunch at the event venue as it is an amazing opportunity to network with other attendees. However, you are required to clean up after yourself and make sure that no mess or rubbish is left behind. Please dispose of all food and drinks in the trash bags provided.

• Please take care of the event space. Do not vandalise or litter in the event space. Do not move or remove anything that does not belong to you, including common use items at the event venue (Proud Spaces) such as books, glasses, and cutlery.

• If possible, please bring your own bottles to reduce usage of disposable cups. 

Psychological safety

• If you notice or suspect that someone may be in distress please approach Damien for assistance. Damien is Advanced Psychological First Aid (APFA) trained, but is not a licensed therapist. In the case where one requires more assistance than Damien can provide, the organisers will call the relevant emergency hotlines.

• In the event you are unable to find Damien, please approach any of the organiser or volunteers who will direct you to Damien.

• There will be a designated quiet room. However, the quiet room has its limitations as it is not 100% sound proof.

• SQS has an open door policy. If you need to leave the venue, please do so and no questions will be asked. 

Personal Safety 

• If you do not feel comfortable being identified, we advise you to use pseudonyms and avoid wearing any identifiable badges/ uniforms that can make you easily identifiable.

• Understand your personal boundaries and communicate them. 

End notes 

We hope to continously revise our community guidelines through crowd sourcing knowledge and expertise. Please input your thoughts through this feedback form.