LGBTQ+ and Black authors are receiving racist and homophobic reviews on Goodreads – Gay Times Magazine
LGBTQ+ authors have also faced similar instances within their review sections.
Contemporary romance writer, Kris Bryant, opened up to i news about the homophobia she faced.
A reviewer on the website pointed out to Bryant that one of her books was given a one-star review even though it was undergoing edits.
After some digging, Bryant discovered that the reviewer went by the name of Charles and had given the same review to other LGBTQ+ books.
“At that time, Charles had rated 700 LGBTQ+ books with one-star ratings, Byrant explained.
She soon reached out to Goodreads to inform them of what was transpiring and was met with a lack-luster response.
“They said, ‘after taking careful look at the ratings, we found that they did not violate our terms so we won’t be able to take any action against them,” she said.
“I felt like we, the LGBTQIA community, were under attack and Good Reads his behind a policy that was complete bullsh*t.”
Under the Goodreads community guidelines, “hate speech, bigotry, threats and ad hominem attacks are not tolerated.” The rules also tell users to not “misrepresent their identities.”
Goodreads have yet to release a statement concerning the recent issues.