Code of Conduct
Anti-Harassment
Any action or behavior that causes significant interference with convention operations, excessive discomfort to other attendees, or adversely affects the convention’s relationship with its guests, its venue or the public is strictly forbidden and may result in suspension of current membership or permanent suspension of membership.
What is harassment?
Harassment is generally any behavior that causes discomfort or alarms or threatens another person or group.
Here are some examples of harassment:
Prohibited harassment includes gender-based harassment of an individual of the same sex as the harasser.
What do I do if I am being harassed?
In some cases you may find the harassment stops if you clearly say ‘no’ or ‘please leave me alone’, or simply walk away. We would appreciate it if a Loscon Chair or Committee Member or Convention Operations volunteer (easily identifiable in their yellow vests) was informed right away to help us identify any repeat offenders.
If you continue to be harassed, don’t hesitate to ask for the Chair, any Committee Member, or Convention Operations volunteer. We will mediate the situation, help you contact venue security or law enforcement, or otherwise assist you to feel safe during the conference.
Loscon will not retaliate against an individual for coming forward with a complaint of harassment.
What should I do if I see someone else being harassed?
Ask the person being harassed if they are okay. Offer to help them find an appropriate Chair, Committee Member or Convention Operations volunteer to report the problem to, or stay with them while someone else finds help. These people are identifiable by their ribbons or yellow vests for operations volunteers.
What can I do if someone accuses me of harassment?
Participants asked to stop harassing behavior must comply immediately. These requests may appear as but are not limited to:
Please remember these are just a few examples and anti harassment requests may appear in many forms not explicitly stated above.
If someone makes a complaint against you, listen, and be aware that your actions may not have come off as you intended them. If this has occurred, be prepared to apologize, sincerely, without qualifiers and then disengage and respectfully avoid similar situations in future. Please understand that, in such a situation, the safety of members is the highest priority..