Yeah, I stopped reading penny arcade and would've considered going to PAX but am not interested anymore. The "rape is a joke" thing that started the whole incident is something that I found lame but unsurprising. But there's a difference between making a lame joke where you meant no harm and are just ignorant vs responding with anger at the very thought that some gamers have had different life experiences (including being raped in the real world, or having a different view of gender / sexuality, etc) That's beyond teenage boy humor and into the realm of "get out of our club, we don't want your kind here."

I don't feel like a diversity panel really addresses people who just want to be viewed as a individual who's a respected part of the group vs a special snowflake weirdo. The gamers I know in real life (including teenage and 20something young men) don't have the attitude that those jokes couldn't possibly hurt anyone.

There is http://www.gaymerx.com in SF... I haven't been but I <3 SF and would be much more into that than PAX.