The fallout over the Romance Writers of America’s decision to censure novelist Courtney Milan continued over the Christmas holiday, with more authors expressing their support for the romance writer.
The RWA censured Milan and suspended her membership after the organization received complaints from two authors upset that Milan had referred to one of the writers’ novels on Twitter as “a fucking racist mess.” Milan’s comment, the RWA ethics committee ruled, “violated “the organization’s express purpose of creating a ‘safe and respectful environment’ for its community of writers.”
On Tuesday, the RWA tweeted, “At a meeting today that identified a gap between policy and process, RWA’s Board of Directors rescinded its vote accepting the findings of the Ethics Committee report and the consequent penalties against Courtney Milan pending a legal opinion.” The organization also said that it “reiterates its support for diversity, inclusivity and equity and its commitment to provide an open environment for all members.”
Those statements weren’t enough for some RWA members, including novelist Priscilla Oliveras, who announced Thursday morning that she and “multiple former board members” had resigned their positions “because we no longer trust or have confidence in RWA’s leadership.”
“We extend our sincere apologies to Courtney Milan and the romance community,” Oliveras added.
On Twitter, other writers and admirers of Milan continued to defend her and criticize the RWA for its decision.
Here's the thing: You can dislike Courtney Milan and/or have had beef with her and STILL recognize that what was done here by RWA was bullshit. If your butthurt about that one time she hurt your feelings is more important than systemic bias in RWA, that's a YOU problem.
— Suleikha Snyder (@suleikhasnyder) December 25, 2019
So, as an update: Holy moly, folks. Aside from the obvious (i.e., @courtneymilan has been wronged), it seems at every step in the process @romancewriters did pretty much exactly the wrong thing. Not just a fuckup but an actual case study in abysmal management practices. https://t.co/8hBILRcZaf
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) December 26, 2019
#IStandWithCourtney is relevant regardless of whether or not you enjoy reading romance. Standing with Courtney Milan means standing against racism in publishing; it means acknowledging the racist attitudes that persist in the industry and committing yourself to fight against them https://t.co/i88VVrVBge
— Jingle Elle Maruska (they/them) (@ellle_em) December 24, 2019
There are several threads here, all tied up in one garbage package:
— Sara Ramsey (@Sara_Ramsey) December 24, 2019
1) Blatant underbelly of oldskool racism in RWA
2) Massive, necessary changes that members like @courtneymilan have tried to push up the hill
3) A paid RWA staff that financially benefits from status quo
I am deep cabin-in-the-woods writing right now, but having just come up for some air, I’ll just say that I am buying many Courtney Milan books today. Merry Christmas.
— Rebecca Romney (@rebeccaromney) December 25, 2019
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas–based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
