| In what appears to be yet another line drawn in the sand between conservatives and liberals in the broader cultural debate on LGBT rights, a letter from Romance Writers of America member Janet Butler, published in the July 2006 issue of the Romance Writers Report, asks that the RWA redefine the romance genre to include only love stories between one man and one woman.
Romance fiction — including authors such as bestseller Nora Roberts, who has nearly 300 million books in print — accounts for nearly 40 percent of the entire fiction market and brings in $1.2 billion in sales each year. So when the RWA, which has a membership of approximately 9,500, floats the possibility of limiting the definition of “romance,” it is not surprising that an uproar has ensued, both online and within the pages of its official publication, RWR.
In her letter, Butler responded to a letter printed in the May 2006 issue of RWR on redefining romance. She argued: “Romance isn't about just any ‘two people' celebrating ‘love in all its forms.' Organizations such as the North American Man-Boy Love Association would certainly refer to themselves as celebrating ‘two people' (or more) finding love in one of its ‘forms'…while they actively promote pedophilia.”
Butler goes on to write: “What brought romance fiction to its present level of success is a collection of decades' worth of one-man, one-woman relationship stories, in all their richness, variety, and power. RWA should be the first to endorse that, rather than attempting to placate fringe groups trying to impose their standards upon the rest of us. If anyone's in danger of being ‘censored' here, it's believers in ‘what comes naturally': one-man, one-woman romance.”
When asked for clarification about who constituted those “fringe groups,” Butler explained to us that those groups could range from writers who use “rougher language” in their novels to those who write inspirational romances, which are defined by the RWA as “romances containing spiritual themes.” Butler herself is an author of inspirational romances.
“Some writers of vampire books actually belong to organizations that believe in drinking blood; I'm not a fan of that!” Butler states. “RWA has frequently tried to ‘please everybody' over the years, which as we know is impossible.”
In reaction to her letter, which was posted on several blogs soon after publication, numerous RWA members and romance readers posted comments debating the perception that Butler had compared homosexuality to pedophilia, and raising concerns that the RWA has exhibited a growing conservative streak in recent years.
The issues raised in Butler's letter stem from a poll conducted in 2005 by RWA leadership on the definition of “romance” as a genre. According to lesbian romance writer Radclyffe, who is also a member of the RWA, “A poll was taken by the Romance Writers of America asking the members to vote on the definition of ‘romance,' specifically distinguishing between a love relationship between a man and a woman versus a love relationship between ‘two people.'”
When asked for comment on the specifics of the poll, RWA publicist Nicole Kennedy declined to elaborate.
Bestselling author Nora Roberts, who was awarded the RWA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, explains, “The poll was actually put forward last year, and I believe pushed forward by a small group of people.”
Roberts continues: “My position was that the idea of defining romance as a genre was foolish, and to attempt to define it so narrowly was offensive. At the time I wrote a letter to the editor of RWR on the subject, as did others. The response from the membership was so negative on the idea of the two choices of definition, the poll was discontinued and the subject of defining the genre was abandoned. The current president and board of RWA have no interest in re-visiting the idea.”
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