Dear friends,

I am having a moment of déjà vu: Weren’t we just talking about respect?

I apologize for being slow to respond here; I was away in New York City on Sunday and am just now catching up. I was not delaying a response on purpose.

On behalf of ScarletSherlock and myself, we are fully in support of Ghost Bees and find the Baker Street Journal’s response to their concerns troubling at best. Identity is a vitally important concept and one that should be respected. Thanks to Google, anyone with an Internet connection can educate themselves about the social and cultural issues regarding identity and gendered pronouns. This is no longer a “secret” or hidden issue buried deep in the bowels of social media.

On Art in the Blood and our various social media platforms, respect is paramount. Willfully misgendering someone is not acceptable. When someone expresses a preferred name or pronoun, it’s not up for debate.

It is also absolutely appropriate for anyone (and everyone) to openly question and discuss the BSJ’s policies and the articles printed within. Even if it were a rigorously peer-reviewed scholarly journal with a diverse editorial board, the BSJ can and should be evaluated and re-evaluated. The contributors and editors should be pleased that the publication is sparking interest and debate. There are no sacred cows in my book (no pun intended).

I look forward to finding Ghost Bees’ work in The Watsonian, as I enjoy both their art and the publication itself very much.

Le Chat Noir