What would a diverse SFWA look like?

[netmouse]

We're in science fiction and fantasy here, right? the genre of speculation? Let's do an exercise in imagination.

(I know people who actually participated in RaceFail '09 are licking their wounds right now, but I wanted to throw this thought out there.)

The SFWA web site says nothing about diversity. It says nothing about minorities, or people of color, or women or GLBT authors. None of the subcommittees directly address isues having to do with these groups.

SFWA is undergoing an internal restructuring, and their website is being redesigned as well. If you are a SFWA member (or have considered becoming one), and you want SFWA to welcome minority authors and feel that their peers value their membership, how would you want SFWA to do that? Please feel free to comment here, please contact SFWA (email SFWA secretary Mary Robinette Kowal, secretary at sfwa.org), and please pass it on.


ETA: temporarily Friends-locking this post at a request from Mary (explanation pending- she was in a rush and dropped me a quick email asking if I could hold off on blogging it). It may be that she/SFWA was already working on something and hoped to reveal it internally from SFWA before we appeared to request it, I don't know. Knowing how I have always hated being asked to do something just before I was going to do it anyway, thus being robbed of the appearance of initiative, I will ask people to hold off on re-blogging this for the moment in case that's what's going on.

EATA: ok, Mary commented below and I'm unlocking this post.

Comments

[maryrobinette.livejournal.com]

Well, you pretty much hit the nail on the head there. We've been working on things for the last year and are about a month away from rolling outs some of the more visible changes. For instance, the new website rolls out in the beginning of April and that's just the most visible of the changes. It takes a long time to make a cultural shift, but that's what this administration is working on. Russell Davis, the current president, ran on a "big tent" platform, in that he wants SFWA to be as inclusive as possible, while not losing sight of our primary goal, which is to support professional SF writers.

Just to give you an example, here's a draft some of the text that's going on the new site."

"The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) does not
discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, veteran status,
ancestry, or national or ethnic origin.

SFWA is a writers' organization that is focused on science fiction and
fantasy - the literary landscapes of the future and of the imagination. As such, we encourage and welcome diversity within our organization."

Clearly, if the website and this were all we were doing, that would be some pretty poor window dressing. Not every change will come online all at once, because above all these things need to be sustainable.

Thanks for your time and attention.