In which case, of course, you would have to ask yourself why that speaker would voluntarily belong to an organization that excludes queer people. You would think that they're sense of personal morality and ethics would preclude such a possibility. The idea that a person from an exclusionary organization like that would be presenting at a DEI conference is ... honestly, flabbergasting to me.

I thought DEI was about ending exclusion, I thought it was about promoting inclusion.

So how could a DEI conference, in any measure of good faith or sincerity, feature an organization that centers itself around excluding people like me?

That makes me so feel so third class and rejected. If even DEI conferences think it's okay to be homophobic, do we queer people have any real place in this world?

Thanks so much for sharing this story, as depressed and angry as it makes me feel.

I wish I had been at that conference, so I could have stood up and told that speaker what a cruel monster they are.