[ST] vericon guest announcement

[Buzz Harris]

--- Benjamin Levy <deguspice at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7/18/07, Crystal M. Huff <chaiya at chaiyahuff.com>
> wrote:
> > Did we make this mistake one year?  Vericon's goh
> is Orson Scott Card.
> 
>   What do you mean by "mistake"?  I don't think he's
> ever been to
> Arisia as a GoH or a guest.
> 
>    ---Ben

Hi Ben.

Orson Scott Card is a very good SF writer in the view
of many.  I like some of his books quite a lot.  Once
I learned more about him, however, I decided not to
buy them any more.

He is, unfortunately, a very dedicated and outspoken
anti-glbt bigot.  There are those of us who are not
comfortable attending a convention that chooses to
honor him as one of their named guests.  His simple
presence is fine.  It's honoring him that is
objectionable.

Conventions are certainly free to invite him as a GOH,
but they should keep in mind that he comes as a
package, and that a significant chunk of that package
is deeply offensive to and demeaning of a number of
fans.  Some of us would not choose to attend or work
on a convention honoring Card.

That does not mean that cons cannot make that choice. 
They just need to realize who he is and what he means
to some of the con's constituents.

Here's a link to the open letter that I drafted to
Boskone attendees the year that they honored Card:

http://civic-oracle.livejournal.com/827.html




       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting