Look, I get that it seems clear that the publisher has a lot going on and is stressed and no one wants to pile-on a dude who seems un-evil and is having a bad week. I also get that as a LGBTQ ally (or, for that matter, as a LGBTQ activist) one has to sometimes step back from the heat, because it's just too exhausting.
So if the guy had really gotten complaints from homophobes and pulled the book, I would have been disappointed and cranky, but moderately understanding. Pulling the book because he's stressed and has too much on his plate? disappointed, but understanding. Pulling the book because of either the potential for homophobes that have not actually appeared and/or because he was afraid it would be seen as gimmicky and not generate appropriate stories are action/reason scenarios that are homophobic - the first an indirect and convoluted version of "gays will make trouble," while the second sounds suspiciously like equating LGBTQ content with inappropriately sexualized content and/or LGBTQ authors with a sub-group of authors not producing appropriate quality.
Fun. For no one.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 05:56 pm (UTC)Hmmm. Americans (North Americans, I should probably say) and body hair? Not a comfortable mix, it seems to me. And, yes, that does seem to be all mixed up with a fear of Too Much Physicality, which of course is the house in which Fear of Sex lives.