So in all this “petition” kerfluffle, (the core issue of which I summarize here) I keep seeing one thing repeated over and over – and not rarely corrected:
That petition isn’t from SFWA. It never was.
Let me repeat that idea: SFWA’s current stance is what the bigots are upset about.
Note: If people want to act like bigots, I’ll call ’em bigots. If you don’t like the label, please stop acting like the label.
That’s why these folks are mad – their exclusive clubhouse now has all this diversity running around. We fought this fight last year, and diversity won.
Imagine this headline: “Quaker petition sparks outrage about racism.”
I mean, holy crap, right? Who knew? (Serious note: Yeah, um, no. Every modern-day Quaker I’ve met has been a truly beautiful person. That’s why such a headline would be shocking.)
Then you read the article (instead of just the headline) and see that it’s a petition from the KKK to Quakers, maybe with a few ex-Quakers having signed it.
But everyone keeps calling it a “Quaker petition”.
So that’s the situation we’re in now with SFWA.
There’s a bunch of bigots who are whining because SFWA called them on their bigotry a year ago, and they don’t like that. Nearly all of them aren’t in the organization any longer because they didn’t like getting called on it a year ago.
But please recognize the difference between the current organization and the bigots who are criticizing it.
Thanks.