I'd say that it can be "a lot" only by comparison. And that depends on, well, what you compare the Clojure community with. I see significantly more representation in some communities and basically none in others. It's all relative.

I'd grant that I'm not familiar with many programming language communities. But I'm not familiar with western communities in general so that maybe it.

As someone that grew up in a mostly closeted and conservative society, I used to have similar feelings. These days, I just see people talking about their work etc. Most of the people look like me, some of them not so much. It’s all good!

I think I live in china, it is a much more conservative on believes！ but i think it’s nothing matters what you like , or whether you make your icon, photo settings, as you like, i don’t care what you post if you don’t offending freedom of other people ! it’s acceptable，i may dislike it, but i don’t bother to see it !

To pick up on what @U7PBP4UVA wrote. What’s great about this community is that people don’t care who you sleep with or where you are on the scale between male and female. We just help each others.

Obvious: because rainbows and parentheses go well together 🌈

IMO it's not a lot. A couple of people have their pink avatars/hair but other than that I didn't even knew that some other more conservative-looking people from here had these views and I was simply not thinking about it. Also it's possible that those people like to be in community space and even grow it. And by doing this they become more visible overall.

There's an ethos behind the various Clojure communities -- driven from the top by people like Rich and Stu -- that we should be friendly, open, and kind, and Clojure conferences in particular make a big effort to have better representation in their speaker line-ups than happens for a lot of other conferences -- a better representation of all minorities in our community: women, LGBTQ+, p.o.c., etc. I was born and raised in the UK where LGBTQ+ folks certainly used to be much more welcome (things have changed over there in two decades since I moved to California). I came out as bi at university in the early '80s and I've been openly queer all my life since (made more complicated by the fact that I just celebrated my 23rd wedding anniversary yesterday with my wife -- so, of course, everyone just assumes I'm heterosexual so I have to "come out" repeatedly!). I regularly marched in both the London and Paris Pride events for years. San Francisco Pride is just too crowded for my wife & me, or else we'd be marching together every year -- she's a big ally. I think it's important to remember that the percentage of LGBTQ+ people in any community around the world is likely the same: we just tend to keep quiet about it in places where we're not welcomed with open arms, so there seem to be fewer of us in those places! :rainbow-flag:

What a weird question. Does it matter? What do you mean by “a lot”? What are you comparing it to?

> Obvious: because rainbows and parentheses go well together Most Clojure developers even combine both with Rainbow Parenthesis extensions on their editors 🌈

I don't think it was a weird question. It seemed to me like it was asked from a place of genuine curiosity and without judgement. There can be many reasons for wanting to know what members of a community think about this.

I’m a month behind on this (my computer was off for a few weeks at the end of the year), but I’ll note a couple of things: • I do know a few LGBTQ people in Clojure, but not many. Not many who say so, anyway. • There are other spaces where I see significantly more LGBTQ people. eg. The Infosec community • Visibility is partly a function of safety. Sean made the point that several senior people here have been explicit in welcoming of groups who are under represented in other areas. The rate of being LGBTQ tends to be about the same across humanity, but in those places of the world where it is not socially accepted, or is illegal, then people are not open, and it looks like there are fewer. • Many LGBTQ people feel isolated from their society, and using computers and intellectual pursuits are often comfortable hobbies or professions that allow people to be themselves in safety. I suspect that they attract a slightly higher rate of LGBTQ people than other areas in life. Clojure itself tends to attract people who view programming from a more intellectual viewpoint. (Based on this, I expect Haskell may have a good share of LGBTQ people as well, but I really don’t know).