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News from the Convention Chair

4 June 2021
To Whom it May Concern: 

 SFSFC AND JON DEL ARROZ HAVE SETTLED THE LAWSUIT MR. DEL ARROZ FILED WHICH INVOLVED HIS BEING BANNED FROM WORLDCON 76.  IN CONCLUDING THE DISPUTE, SFSFC WISHES TO ISSUE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:

 SFSFC acknowledges the importance of reputation, especially for a relatively new author, and regrets that its public statement about barring his attendance might have led people unfamiliar with Mr. Del Arroz and his work to infer that he is or was a racist. For that, SFSFC apologizes. This attendance ban was specific to the Worldcon 76 events produced by SFSFC, and Mr. Del Arroz has the same opportunity as other members of the public to register for future SFSFC events.  Worldcon 76 does not tolerate discrimination in any form -- including through cosplay -- based on but not limited to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical/mental health conditions.  SFSFC firmly believes that healthy political discourse requires active, mutual, good faith participation by members of the community with differing opinions.


Kevin Roche
Chair, Worldcon 76 in San Jose
President, San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc.

 

Image of signed statement regarding Settlement of JDA lawsuit

 23 July, 2018

I directed the Program Division to take down the preliminary program information that was released yesterday evening. There were too many errors and problems in it to leave it up.
 
I am sorry we slighted and angered so many of the people we are gathering to meet, honor and celebrate. This was a mistake, our mistake. We were trying to build a program reflecting the diversity of fandom and respectful of intersectionality. I am heartbroken that we failed so completely.
 
We are tearing the program apart and starting over. It was intended to be a reflection of the cultures, passions and experiences of Worldcon membership, with room for both new voices and old. What we released yesterday failed to do that; we must do better.
 
Many of you have offered to help us do a better job. Thank you. We cannot accept all those offers, but yes, we will be turning to some of you to help us do it better this time.
 
We will continue to reach out to the Hugo Finalists we have missed connections with, to ensure any who wish to be on the program will have a place on it.
 
Kevin Roche
Chair, Worldcon 76 in San Jose
 

We are are profoundly sorry for the misgendered biography for Bogi Takács that was released in today's early program information. 
It was an dreadful mistake and I apologize on behalf of all my staff.

I am trying to find out exactly where our editing process failed, to ensure it does not happen again.
Kevin Roche

As Chair of Worldcon 76, I would like to express my regret for the distress the timing of our Hugo Finalists announcement has caused for Orthodox Jewish members of our Community. It was not our intention to show disrespect.

The Number One Question we've been asked since spring is "When will room reservations open?"

We have just sent out an email to all registered members informing them that hotel reservations for members open tomorrow, Nov 22, at 1PM PST.
Reservation information will be posted publicly here on the website at a later date, to ensure members get first crack at the hotels.

(Actually, we sent out 3, because yours truly typoed both the date and time, setting it two weeks in the past. Clearly I was undercaffeinated.)

If you are a member (attending or supporting) and did not receive a copy of that email, please write registrar@worldcon76.org so we can fix it.

And yes, we are aware there is a 4th typo in the email, our hotel information page is https://www.worldcon76.org/travel-lodging/hotels (that typo was inserted by the editor interface, not me)

Please spread the word!

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