Polari prize nominees withdraw over inclusion of 'terf' John Boyne

JB's book The Echo Chamber features Aidan who is now Nadia, a BBC interviewer who is on the rack for his misgendering antics, a tortoise that likes After Eight mints, a Ukrainian lover, a pregnant mistress. OMG it is just so bizarre, bonkers, funny and relevant to ahem, certain themes. Just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone who hasn't read it yet!

I'm embarrassed for these grovelling fools and the Arts generally.

What an absolute shambles!
One good things is JB says he has loads more books he wants to write. He is one of my favourite authors so this pleases me.
I'll be avoiding Polari prize winners for a while though.

But this is what happens in revolutions - the revolutionaries compete to be the purest in thought and they turn on each other with their revolutionary fervour, thus extinguishing the revolution. The sooner they exclude anyone ‘not pure of thought’ the sooner it will burn itself out (that’s my hope, anyway)
Agreed @WhatterySquash, they could have continued with a number of nominees missing, but then the winner would have had a hollow victory, with people assuming they only won because so and so dropped out.

From now on the award will be given only to those spotlessly clean of independent thought. Might I suggest that its name be changed to "The Pole of Shame"?

The statement is on one level really upsetting. Because basically it is saying so that next time by having more judges who are trans rather than LGB, no "upsetting" nominee will happen.

ie John Boyne should never have got on the list.

The bullies have won.

I know that's true, but if they did take that approach, what could the TRA's do? Basically learn to play nicely or flounce off and lose out. They might hold a shouty demo or two but in reality, GC authors and books do actually get on shortlists and win awards - even though there are probably TRAs in various positions trying to make sure they get discriminated against where possible - and transactivism cannot actually convincingly argue that they shouldn't, in the light of all the court cases proving that that would be unlawful discrimination.

I really think this could have been a great opportunity to get through to these people that they'd get a better outcome for themselves by learning to live and let live - as Boyne tried to do with his statement.

Nolan seems like an out and out TRA these days. David Thompson was obviously the brains. Looking back it's even more remarkable that podcast ever made it to air. I can't wait to hear all the machinations that went on, I suspect there's probably a book in it.

Interesting post on X from David Thompson, who made the BBC Stonewall podcast (and seems to have been the driving force and brains behind it). Hopefully he will tell the story one day. It would be great to have a really engaging expose of the gender ideology bullies

i reckon the entire prize/org will be dead and gone within 3 years of now.

The D.E.I Vampire devours everything as soon as you invite it over your threshold.

That statement has made me rage. These terrible bullies destroy anything and anyone decent. If you want to support John Boyne and read a really good book, "The Heart's Invisible Furies' is 99p on Kindle at the moment. It's a truly fantastic read. The Audible version is beautifully read too.
I would argue the only thing which has benefitted from this is John Boyne's book sales..

Well yes @WhatterySquash but no one has the cojones to do that though, so here we are. Everything will need to be rebuilt from the ground up (see also NLS, NHS……)

That's disgraceful. They've basically declared oops we forgot to discriminate against GC people, so we're not even going to run the awards.

There is clearly going to be discrimination going on in future and because it's a subjective long list it's going to be very hard for anyone to challenge it legally. Unless either there's a whistleblower on the panel, or such a blow-away success book that no-one will believe its exclusion is other than prejudice against the author's views.

What's the way around this legally? Does John Boyne need to bring a discrimination case even though he isn't someone who needs to care about awards? Because some newcomer who may or may not have won is never going to be in a position to are they.

It's an informal section 28 applied to GC people.

I would have said their best option was to recognise that many gay and lesbian people are GC for obvious reasons - gender ideology does not allow for same-sex attraction and is homophobic - and announce that they expect nominees to accept that they may be listed alongside those with whom they disagree and to bloody well lump it with good grace (as of course JB and several others did, because they're not 2).

I would have announced that the prize is for literary merit and no one will be excluded for fully legal, WORIADS views and expression thereof. If anyone doesn't like it and wants to exclude themselves, bye, don't let the door hit your arse on the way out but that is your decision and not the prize committee's fault for refusing to include only one viewpoint.

There i fixed it :)

Once the first toys got thrown out of the pram, the ball was in JB’s court. His gracious, measured reply and the refusal of the toy chuckers to engage had meant this is the prize team’s best option.
It’s like being in nursery again - if you can’t all play together nicely…..

The toxic gender identity movement destroys absolutely everything it touches, doesnt it? (as well as people's brains, rationality and ethics). Shameful capitulation to hard-of-thinking bullies.

I am so, so tired of this luxury, fact free bullshit infecting the so-called "left", academia,media and the arts. It's essentially just a cultlike fundamentalist religion for the middle classes. Can they really not even see themselves or are they so puffed up with their supposed righteousness and superior intellect, despite having literally neither of those things? Embarrassing & shameful.

Exactly what I thought.

Just started reading Earth. Excellent so far. Thanks to the tra's for bringing it to my attention 💋

Or, making themselves so niche they disappear up their own crack.

Making themselves irrelevant, then

Gerrymandering.

Hmm sounds suspiciously like a plan to make the judging panel TRA enough that this situation won't happen again because GC writers won't even get a look-in. Unless they are careful to select open-minded trans people, of whom there are some.

More news:

@TheAntiGardeneragree entirely