Excerpts from Salt Lake Tribune article:

Two Utah authors say Cedar Fort Publishing’s Sweetwater Books canceled publication of their young-adult fantasy novel “Woven” because one of the authors is gay and wanted to reference his partner in his bio. …

Although Cedar Fort is a predominantly LDS publisher, Jensen says he was told Sweetwater would have more of a national imprint and that the content in “Woven” — although “very G-rated” anyway — would not have to adhere to Mormon standards.

But when Jensen saw a proof of “Woven’s” cover art on Aug. 2, he noticed that the publishing house had stricken a phrase in his bio: “He lives in Salt Lake City with his boyfriend and their four dogs.” Jensen pointed out the error.

… Cedar Fort Acquisitions Editor Angie Workman wrote: “I was concerned about your bio and wondered what effect it would have with our LDS buyers, so I spoke with [Cedar Fort owner] Lyle [Mortimer] about it. He says we can’t risk ruining our relationship with them by stating you live with your boyfriend. … We will have much better sales if we can get into Deseret Book and Seagull.” …

“I was speechless,” says King, who unlike Jensen is a practicing Mormon. …

Jensen says Mortimer told him, after some shouting, that “God had given me a penis for a reason,” and threatened to publish “Woven” without names attached. Jensen was shocked by Mortimer’s position, he says, because “I’ve known Lyle for several years. He knew I was gay.”

Jensen says Mortimer gave him a deadline of Aug. 5 at 8 a.m. to buy out the rights to the novel for “thousands of dollars.” … [end excerpts]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56764258-78/jensen-says-cedar-fort.html.csp

From the comments below the SL Tribune article:

"Cedar Fort is a notoriously prudish and amateurish publisher. A friend had her adult novel published with them, and they insisted on a whole raft of perfectly absurd changes and deletions, so as not to offend the tender sensibilities of their readers. The novel had no sex scenes or curse words, but even the mildest references to the characters' (married) sex life were expunged. Reminded me of those 1960s TV reruns, where the husbands and wives always had to sleep in twin beds, lest the TV viewers get any nasty ideas."

Mormonism does not have a salutary effect on the creative arts.

Another comment from below the SL Tribune article:

"Given that Cedar Fort has allowed multiple authors to make specific references to their spouses in the bios of their books... how can one be a "drama queen" when only expecting to be treated as every other author has been treated by the very same company?"

Religion or individual, neither or both.

Mormon church does harm people, both the bigot and the target of bigotry.

From a business perspective the businessman may be right, it is a shame he may be right. I try and avoid doing business with bigots, Mormonism creates bigots and harbors them safely in doctrine and society.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2013 05:07PM by gentlestrength.

Sanctimonious, hypocritical bigotry knows no bounds