Do you have a portable FLARM?
A fair point, but do you, and does every glider that enters cloud?
This discussion is about gliders in cloud - not about gliders in VMC.
From the comments on here from the glider community it would seem quite clear very few gliders fly in cloud - IMC operations are therefore nearly the preserve of powered aircraft. It is usual for the majority to set the rules; it would seem that us powered boys are unhappy about you lot playing by different rules in the clouds. Now I understand FLARM has some specific advantages that are well suited glider to glider, but again to me this smacks of writing the rules to suite yourself and your own minority community.
I understand some older gliders may have real problems fitting a transponder and powering it, but so have many home builts -which are banned from operating in IMC? Why should an exception be made for you?
If you want to operate in IMC fit a transponder, if not stay out of the clouds.
.. .. .. and if you really cant fit or power a transponder
well sadly there is a cost involved in aviation. I didnt want to fit a mode S unit. I couldnt fit an IFR GPS in one of the aircraft I owned. However I accept that technology moves ahead, and, when it comes to safety, so must I.
There should not be any element of flying that is a lottery. If I decide to fly in VMC I have got some chance of spotting another aircraft intent on colliding with me (it may not be perfect, but at least I can try to mitigate the risk). If I decide to fly with one engine it is almost certainly within my powers to land without causing anyone harm other than myself. However when you launch your glider in IMC there is absolutely nothing I can do to avoid hitting you - and to render useless by your actions my ability to conduct the flight safely seems very unfair. It seems even more unfair to expect me to operate airways when you are the minority user of the airspace.
Can you imagine cars on the road where the vast majority all have bumpers at the same height. One manufacturer says sod that, it will spoil the beautiful lines of our model if we conform, in fact we will not be able to fit the engine where best suites us. Now whenever one of these cars meets another car (and almost certainly the other car is part of the conforming population) it does a huge amount of damage - do we make an exception of that manufacturer, or do we expect them to conform?