Update at the end

I was looking at the ballot in the Romance Writer’s Report, the monthly magazine that you receive as a member of the Romance Writers of America. It has one question in regards to the definition of the romance genre:

A. The romantic relationship is between one man and one woman
B. The romantic relationship is between two people.

You’re supposed to check one.

It immediately reminded of another question on a ballot for registered voters that members of Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church, pictured below, spearheaded.

Living in Topeka, KS, I’m sensitized to gay hate. People had (have) signs in their yards, “Preserve the sanctity of marriage.”
“One Man and One Woman.” People carry around signs urging all passersby to hate fags. It’s all around me. It would be dangerous to have a gay pride parade here.

And now a simple question is on another ballot. I can’t help but think that such a question arises because of the fairly recent change in social climate to one where we have a new inclination to hate and exclude.

Be aware that it’s a slippery slope. People have very short memories.

In a different time and place, there were laws against marrying a Jew. Yes, marrying a Jew would upset the sanctity of marriage. It was disgusting to consider Jews as capable of romance, as human as other humans.

In my lifetime, there were laws against whites marrying a black person. Longer ago, blacks couldn’t marry at all. In the past it was accepted in some places that a romantic relationship was only between two white Christians.

Before 1994, romance between blacks within the pages of romance novels were almost impossible to find. Only a handful had been published. If you wanted to define within a romance novel a love relationship between two black people, or a white person and a black person, you could not get it published.

A romantic relationship is between human beings. Any human beings on the planet can fall in love.

Within the pages of fiction, romance is only limited by your imagination. To try and define who’s capable of romance within fiction is outrageous.

The fact that the RWA needs to put this on a ballot to restrict the definition of romance is getting less blog time and outrage than the graphic standards issue, where I think it deserves much more.

If the RWA had asked me to define a romantic relationship as only between two Christians, not two people, so as to exclude Jews, I would consider the question just as offensive as presently presented.

Institutionalized hate is the worse evil in the world. The most evil Satanic things have always been done in the name of hatred of other humans.

The fact that the RWA thinks it appropriate to put such a question on another ballot is enough to have my membership terminated immediately.

Updated: The response of the RWA President is that the question is merely for members to decide the issue.

A task force to define romance was appointed. It stands to reason that the narrowed definition of romance comes from this task force.

It is poor timing and questionable judgment for this question to arise at all in print, especially after the controversy over to institute what seemed to many as values-based graphic standards which would exclude many novels presently being published. Now it at least appears if the RWA is attempting another attempt to institute what looks like a values-based narrow definition of romance which would exclude homosexuals.

The explanation given for changing the present definition of romance is given at Alison Kent’s blog by the RWA president, Tara Taylor Quinn:

We could also end up with a conference filled w/ publishers of other genres & there could be no slots avail for romance editors & romance industry professionals. … So… the only way we can limit these functions and not break anti-trust laws is to clearly define ourselves.

So the reason for more narrowly defining romance is to limit the genre and the sort of publishers (and authors of these publishers) participating in RWA functions? And this survey is to decide whether RWA should exclude publishers, authors and novels which feature same sex partners from the RWA?

It should be a moot point. The question should not be asked. Period.