We did not stop having a political stance, which is that we protect our artists, attendees and staff from groups that do not respect their right to exist. We also will not cease having a stance against groups that try to sabotage the fandom and its events.
There was only some quibble regarding the ribbons or the editorial. In fact, we have been positively surprised by the small amount of criticism it drew, and most of what we got was specifically about the (censored) F-word on the ribbon, not the message.
The Board of Directors unanimously decided to hand out the ribbons. This was supported by an overwhelming majority of the core staff of Eurofurence. The ribbons were donated to us by an anonymous person, not a single cent of attendance fee was used.
Unless asked, registration staff decided to stop handing out ribbons. This happened after a few but insistent attendees demanded to debate the registration team, blocking the desks and delaying registration for those waiting in line. Thereafter, others even stuck ribbons to hotel furniture. Granted, we should have anticipated that.
While the editorial was penned by Cheetah, the other two members of the Eurofurence Board of Directors approved it, feedback from team directors was sought, and it went through various cycles of proof reading. It was and is widely backed by core staffers of the convention.
To set the record straight:
We did not stop having a political stance, which is that we protect our artists, attendees and staff from groups that do not respect their right to exist. We also will not cease having a stance against groups that try to sabotage the fandom and its events.
There was only some quibble regarding the ribbons or the editorial. In fact, we have been positively surprised by the small amount of criticism it drew, and most of what we got was specifically about the (censored) F-word on the ribbon, not the message.
The Board of Directors unanimously decided to hand out the ribbons. This was supported by an overwhelming majority of the core staff of Eurofurence. The ribbons were donated to us by an anonymous person, not a single cent of attendance fee was used.
Unless asked, registration staff decided to stop handing out ribbons. This happened after a few but insistent attendees demanded to debate the registration team, blocking the desks and delaying registration for those waiting in line. Thereafter, others even stuck ribbons to hotel furniture. Granted, we should have anticipated that.
While the editorial was penned by Cheetah, the other two members of the Eurofurence Board of Directors approved it, feedback from team directors was sought, and it went through various cycles of proof reading. It was and is widely backed by core staffers of the convention.
A PDF of the conbook can be found here, unchanged: http://archive.eurofurence.org/conbooks/EF_24_Conbook.pdf
— o'wolf
Eurofurence Community Communications