Seeing a fair amount of pushback to Chris' great work here.

A lot of people seem to think that to avoid getting arrested in countries where being gay is illegal you can just pretend not to be queer. Short thread: https://twitter.com/seis_matters/status/1276777154555138050

1. Wtf why would you ask your students to do that in the first place anyway. Do you expect your women students to go full on Mulan and disguise themselves as a bloke to do fieldwork in areas that are unsafe for women!?! No, you just pick somewhere else to visit.

2. I know >1 ecologist in >1 country that has been put in jail for being gay. A common way it happens is they have their technology stolen, and when it was reported to the police they were locked up because there were photos of them and their partner on their phone.

Sometimes, that person isn't, in fact, gay, and they are accused simply because someone doesn't like the look of them. Maybe their clothes are simply perceived as a bit 'camp'.

You cannot avoid this risk simply by 'being subtle' or 'not having sex'. The only way you can avoid it is by not visiting those countries. And especially not taking all your students out there on a field trip.

Oh and if you have any staff or students doing research in a country where being gay is illegal you'd better have *very* comprehensive insurance, a damn good legal team and a lot of cash ready in case they do end up in jail. This often is very much not the case.

@TheLabAndField shared some good resources on safe/not so safe countries for LGBTQ+ people here: https://twitter.com/TheLabAndField/status/1276784858656890881?s=19