A Polish Wikipedia editor earlier this year complained about religious discrimination to a committee that enforces the “code of conduct” imposed by the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia. The editor expressed opposition to LGBT ideology, citing Bible verses condemning it in his profile on a Discord Wikipedia chat group, prompting mockery and insults from others. Members of the committee rejected his claims and suggested instead the Bible verses were a violation.

Committee members further initiated discussions to delete Wikipedia pages the editor created expressing his Biblical views and opposition to policies and practices prohibiting the voicing of opposition to same-sex marriage. Months after the pages were deleted and his complaint rejected, the editor was banned from Wikipedia partly citing his complaint to the Committee.

The Universal Code of Conduct imposed by the Foundation applies to sites owned by the Foundation, including Wikipedia, along with related events and Foundation staff themselves. Plans for the code of conduct were first announced in 2020, prompting significant concern about intervention in the normally self-governing community. A year earlier, the Foundation’s unprecedented one-year ban of an administrator sparked an editor revolt leading to the ban being referred to a community body, which overturned the decision. While the community objected to the proposed code of conduct for these reasons, as well as perceived left-wing bias and free speech implications, it was ultimately approved by the Foundation.

Following approval of the code of conduct, further discussions followed on enforcement. While generally left to local communities, the Foundation sought to create a body that could handle complaints when it was determined local communities were failing to enforce the code’s provisions. Subsequent community votes regarding proposed enforcement guidelines and revisions based off comments provided during the process, were followed by a committee developing a charter