That experience and experience from other clashes against the broader CoC-wielding crowd, either firsthand or secondhand, tells me that people who are determined to inject identity politics into software are either (a) honestly over-sensitive, can’t imagine other people not giving a shit; or (b) using CoC as a convenient tool to end technical debates (when they’re out of arguments or don’t want to argue further) with folks who prefer a more blunt communication style.
You can subvert any community/organisation/process this way. Social "grenade" in a sense. Scary.
Reading the post right here at the beginning I'm like "Oh here we go..."
And reading the rest went just as predictably as I expected. A tiny minority wielding their power. Sane people attempting to stay sane and reasonable, but failing. A terrified company acting in panic.
Future alien archeologists will wonder "So they were facing imminent extinction, how did they respond to this threat?" ... "Well they seemed to spend a lot of time arguing over what they should call each other"
PS: before anyone likes to shame me, I _might_ actually be a woman...
Also, many moderators resigned over recent events (mostly non-LGBTQ+), for a plethora of specific justifications.
It's often not members of these groups, but "allies" acting "on their behalf" (and likely hurting the cause because the extremist and witch-hunting behavior gets associated with these groups).