Romance Writers of America says no to Teh Gay

Unimpressed

Wow. I don't even know what to say to that. Thanks for posting.

I don't know what to say about--{{oh hell, head meet desk}}

There's now a petition available if anyone is interested in signing it.

It was about time for RWA's semi-annual exclusion of gay romance from something.

Wow. I don't even know what to say to that. I mean I personally don't write M/M, but I wouldn't want to see M/M writers excluded from the competition. That's just sad. Maybe they'll reverse their decision.

Dude. I'm not a fan of romance, but that's just not cool.

I think it sucks that the chapter in question made that decision. While I know that RWA has a history of excluding (same-sex romance, e-published romance, etc.) this is just a single chapter. Doesn't make it right that they've made this decision, but it isn't the entire RWA.

My local chapter (New England) also hosts an annual contest. When I told the coordinator I wanted to enter one of my M/M romance novels this year, she was thrilled. She told me she has a number of judges who "love" reading M/M. After I brought it up, she added a place on the entry form to note whether an entry's same-sex or not so she could make sure those entries were given to judges who wanted to read them, and that hetero entries were given to judges who wanted to read those.

Hopefully RWI will get enough flak from this that they'll change their stance on the matter. If not, I can foresee them losing members, along with the national organization.

I hope it bites 'em in the ass....and not in a good way.

Doesn't surprise me, sadly. Just before I dropped my membership (2006ish), National sent out a ballot to vote for whether or not same sex Romances would be included in their official definition, or it would remain het. The vote came back overwhelmingly for het-only definition.

Always seemed to me that the RWA is always a day-late-and-a-dollar short when keeping up with what their readership is really interested in.

The chapters are often restricted by National's rules, especially when dealing outside of their own chapter. I was the coordinator for a couple of RWA chapter contests, back in the day, and whenever drawing on judges from outside the chapter (which was needed when a contest got popular), it's more politics and National's rules always win out.

I wouldn't be surprised if it takes National another 5-10 years before it accepts same sex Romances, if that soon. *sad*

That's very disappointing in this day and age. I hope enough people boycott the chapter to show that this discrimination isn't acceptable.

KimJo's coordinator had the right approach: Give same-sex romances to judges who are happy to read them, don't ban the entire genre.

About the time I think maybe it would be good to join RWA they do something I can't stomach.

This isn't right at all.

Let all kinds of romance in and give them to readers who aren't "uncomfortable" to judge. Many het folks like myself have no problem reading and enjoying same sex romance. The key word being romance,in case they don't understand. I want to see Jill and Tracy or Mike and Tom have their HEA just as much as I do with Tony and Michelle. With plenty of angst,of course. I enjoy that sort of thing.


Absolute bullshit and insulting to writers and fans alike.

Nightmelody said:

About the time I think maybe it would be good to join RWA they do something I can't stomach.

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At this point it's a specific chapter, not the national group, that won't allow GLBT romance. The national awards (RITA, Golden Heart) do allow same-sex entries.

absitinvidia said:

At this point it's a specific chapter, not the national group, that won't allow GLBT romance. The national awards (RITA, Golden Heart) do allow same-sex entries.

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If that specific chapter disallowed multi-cultural stories, no one would be saying "it's just a local chapter". If the national chapter won't step in and say that discrimination isn't tolerated, they're just as culpable!

Dani said:

If that specific chapter disallowed multi-cultural stories, no one would be saying "it's just a local chapter". If the national chapter won't step in and say that discrimination isn't tolerated, they're just as culpable!

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Thing is, though, the national organization has yet to respond. The person who responded isn't the one who makes RWA policy--that's the Board of Directors, who have acknowledged the issue and said they're going to discuss it at the next board meeting. I personally am waiting to hear an official response from RWA before I make any decisions.

Silver-Midnight said:

Wow. I don't even know what to say to that. I mean I personally don't write M/M, but I wouldn't want to see M/M writers excluded from the competition. That's just sad. Maybe they'll reverse their decision.

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Where does it say that it's specifically m/m romance they're targeting??? Could you please point me to this information? I also feel pretty discriminated against by this policy as a lesbian who writes lesbian romance, and it's frustrating to see people get up in arms about the exclusion of gay men but not gay women. If there's some reason why people are focusing so much on the m/m versus f/f, I'd really like to know about it for my blood pressure's sake. =/

sickmuse said:

Where does it say that it's specifically m/m romance they're targeting??? Could you please point me to this information? I also feel pretty discriminated against by this policy as a lesbian who writes lesbian romance, and it's frustrating to see people get up in arms about the exclusion of gay men but not gay women. If there's some reason why people are focusing so much on the m/m versus f/f, I'd really like to know about it for my blood pressure's sake. =/

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They're (by which I mean the RWI chapter) not specifically targeting m/m, and I personally am getting really pissed off that so many people are making it sound this way. The contest rules clearly state that they will "no longer accept same-sex entries in any category."

Mexican Heat, which is m/m, won first place in this same chapter's contest in 2010, so this is a complete about-face for the chapter.

Speaking as a queer member of RWA, I'm getting more and more pissed of at the people who are trying to say "this isn't about people, it's about books." No, it IS about people. If a whole chapter says they won't read same-sex contest entries, what happens if a queer writer shows up as a new member?

sickmuse said:

Where does it say that it's specifically m/m romance they're targeting??? Could you please point me to this information? I also feel pretty discriminated against by this policy as a lesbian who writes lesbian romance, and it's frustrating to see people get up in arms about the exclusion of gay men but not gay women. If there's some reason why people are focusing so much on the m/m versus f/f, I'd really like to know about it for my blood pressure's sake. =/

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From my perspective, I'm focusing on m/m because it's what I write. Selfish, or at least self-centred. And probably that's why others are focusing on it, too. There's more m/m writers than f/f, I think.

But of course this is just as egregious for f/f writers. Or maybe even more so, since I think a lot of f/f writers are actually lesbian and may feel personally excluded, while many m/m writers are straight and only have professional stakes in this.

Sorry if I contributed to your high blood pressure.

Captcha said:

From my perspective, I'm focusing on m/m because it's what I write. Selfish, or at least self-centred. And probably that's why others are focusing on it, too. There's more m/m writers than f/f, I think.

But of course this is just as egregious for f/f writers. Or maybe even more so, since I think a lot of f/f writers are actually lesbian and may feel personally excluded, while many m/m writers are straight and only have professional stakes in this.

Sorry if I contributed to your high blood pressure.

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Well, as a lesbian who writes lesbian romance, I'm pretty damn pissed off at some members of the m/m community for making this a m/m issue and continuing to say that "m/m entries" are being excluded rather than saying "same sex entries" or "GLBT entries."

I'm even more pissed off at a well-known author on the PAN mailing list (RWA's special published authors group) who told everyone to calm down because we're talking about product here, books, not people. She actually had the balls to say that, like a group of people saying "we think same-sex romance is yucky" doesn't translate into "and we don't want any queers in our group." Add that author to my list of people whose books I'll never buy.

I signed the petition as a person who supports the GBLT community rather than as an author who writes m/m romance.

This isn't just about writing or books, it's about yet another attempt to marginalise an entire community. I hope the RWA give this branch a slap, I really do.

I signed as a supporter of the LGBT community as well.

This isn't right and I agree with Firedrake.

Ugh, this whole thing... >.<

I said my piece on my blog (that'll get interesting when my family reads it, seeing as they don't know...erm...certain things about me).

Ironically, I was thinking of joining RWA last week, and had some extra money I could have used. I decided to go play video poker instead. Money well spent, I say.

thethinker42 said:

Ugh, this whole thing... >.<

I said my piece on my blog (that'll get interesting when my family reads it, seeing as they don't know...erm...certain things about me).

Ironically, I was thinking of joining RWA last week, and had some extra money I could have used. I decided to go play video poker instead. Money well spent, I say.

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*hugs* That was a really awesome blog post, and made me emotional, especially that last bit.