The team behind the San Francisco-based Games Developers Conference have spoken out against President Trump’s executive order to ban people from Muslim countries from entering the US.
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There’s currently a three-month ban on anyone attempting to enter the US from Iraq, Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. Muslim countries with business ties to America are allowed entry, however, such as Dubai, where there’s a Trump Hotel and Tower.
The ban has been met with international disapproval, to the point where a recent petition that attempted to block the president’s visit to the UK gathered over a million signatures in a day.
In response to this ban, the official GDC Twitter account has promised to refund tickets to anyone affected, while pledging to keep pushing for inclusivity.
GDC is a global community – we're horrified by the #MuslimBan. Of course we'll refund affected attendees, and keep fighting for inclusivity.
— Official_GDC (@Official_GDC) January 29, 2017
Other key industry figures have also spoken out against the ban. Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail pledged to donate his company’s revenue towards opposing the ban for an entire 24 hours.
For the next 24 hours, all @Vlambeer revenue will be donated to @ACLU for their opposition to the #MuslimBan.
— Rami Ismail (@tha_rami) January 29, 2017
Meanwhile, former PlayStation exec Shahid Kamal has stated he won’t be attending out of principle.
As Polygon report, GDC state that two of 8,000 members have currently been affected by the ban, but the problem goes deeper than that.
“The issue isn’t necessarily the [effect] on these specific countries but on the general spread of xenophobia in the U.S. government and how it will certainly affect the U.S.’s ability to hire talent and remain globally competitive,” says executive director Kate Edwards.
Thanks, GIBiz.