Don't sell terf books

[mumda]

Literary society tells bookshops not to sell ‘Terf’ books https://freespeechunion.org/literary-society-tells-bookshops-not-to-sell-terf-books/

Hmm. How scared can you be of words?

Guidance written by a bloke who says he’s “queer” but obviously is not very bright because everyone knows that the best way to increase sales is to try to ban whatever it is you want to ban.

Well done, “queer” bloke!

The guidance was uploaded on the website then “swiftly removed”. Hmm. Wonder why…

Chair of the board has stood down.

Apology published on X.

Screenshots.

Wow, a proper apology and a resignation!

Yes. It's a robust response. I'm not quite sure it's the most productive way of dealing, but hopefully it's becoming clearer that discrimination against people with 'gc' beliefs is not acceptable.

Is it just me that thinks the Chair resignation suggests there is more board involvement than the narrative they present?

If it was posted without any Board oversight, why the need for a resignation? Surely it would be just - we will investigate and put in place policy to ensure it does not happen again.

Does this indicate the Chair disagrees with the board decision? Pushed for policy that allowed this happen over objections? Was involved in recommending the author? Or something?

The Chair is ultimately responsible for actions of the organisation - even if they had nothing to do with this.
It's a very robust and clear response.

They say quite openly that they banged it up without anyone on the board reading it.

I wonder who uploaded it.

Interesting that it produced an apology and a resignation. Time was it would just have resulted in a demonstration of gender ideology purity.

Yes, they are. But a one-off mistake by a frontline worker in an organization rarely results in resignation of the Chair. That would normally only come about if there was support for the “mistake” by the Chair, or some clear dereliction in duty by the board.

I've had a little look - Sarah Mason the chair is here promoting a transgender author as an 'outstanding woman' in 2017:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-39139544.amp

Here, as part if the Saltire Society, Sarah Mason promotes Harry Josie Giles, a trans writer, as one of their '40 under 40'.

https://www.saltiresociety.org.uk/40-under-40-2023

Surprisingly little info on Mason online, but what I can find seems to show they are a strong advocate for transwomen. Perhaps this is why Mason stood down.

I had a Quick Look at the LAS annual report and they’re tiny - $19k on salary. Which made me think that members of the board must be more involved than that statement of theirs suggests, so Mason may have been the one to commission the report or suggest the author…

I suspect we won’t ever know. But as others have said it’s promising that the swift response was to reject the bigotry rather than double down.

This line stood out to me: “This rise in transphobia signals a danger to all LGBTQ+ people, to reproductive rights, etc.” A danger like sterilising kids maybe?

Little wonder Drew Augustine published 'The Twenty Murders' independently on Amazon. I've just finished reading it and I really enjoyed it because it features the toxic culture war. No way would this author have been able to publish traditionally. It's a middle finger up to the likes of LAS!