Seattle Worldcon Issues Statement Panicking About Donald Trump: "Hostile Conditions" For "LGBTQ+ Members"

With convention season around the corner, Worldcon blasted the Donald Trump administration after a few no-name authors on BlueSky state they’re not going to be attending the convention.

Worldcon is supposed to stand for the World Science Fiction Convention, a gathering established in 1939 for sci-fi fans and creators together to discuss the genre. Unfortuantely, in recent years, it’s become more of a politically driven nightmare rather than doing its job for science fiction.

Signs started to show cracks in Worldcon’s ability to be objective in 2001, when they refused to invite Gor author John Norman to speak because of what appeared to be political reasons, despite his selling millions of copies of his work.

In the mid-2010s, as sci-fi influence began to fail in literature, the convention began giving Hugo Awards to works that didn’t exemplify creativity or great literary work but instead pushed identity politics. The Hugo Awards, Worldcon’s literary awards, were given to suspects like Ann Leckie because of a book featuring gender pronouns, and they even gave one to a strange short titled “If You Were A Dinosaur My Love”, which is some woman’s creepy fantasy about having intercourse with such creatures.

Several popular authors pushed back and got a large portion of fandom to nominate giants of the industry for the awards, but Worldcon forced them out and ensured the rules were changed so they could never get to that point again. Since that point, the awards died.

In 2018, they banned author Jon Del Arroz under false pretenses, calling him a “racist bully,” which they eventually fought a libel lawsuit over and lost, forcing him to apologize.

As COVID hit, Worldcon Washington D.C. ended up with a sponsorship from the weapons manufacturer Raytheon to keep the convention going.

It got worse as the con went to Chengdu, China, where the Chinese Communist Party influenced the Hugo Awards. The man who ran it from the Worldcon side got attacked and accused of sexual misconduct soon after. Naturally, even though China is known for its human rights violations and slave camps, what’s worse to the people who run it is that America elected Donald Trump to push back against left-wing corruption and insane identity politics.

Several authors from foreign countries voiced they were too scared to travel to America, given this is a MAGA country on BlueSky this last week.

Jeremy Szai opted for attention over the matter and made a rant claiming he would not be attending the convention, “I've just canceled any plans to attend Worldcon Seattle. As someone of Lebanese/Egyptian descent (with a Slavic surname), I genuinely don't feel safe setting foot in the US, where I could hauled off to a detention centre. Or labelled a terrorist. Or worse.”

He continued in a lengthy thread, “If anyone doubts me, whenever I go through airports, there's a 60% chance that I'll get selected for a "random" close inspection/bag search. If I don't shave, it's higher.”

He then made up his own fantasy probably better than his books, “Just in August, when going between Denmark and Sweden, I was accosted by border security on a train. They suspected me of being an illegal Arab immigrant and needed me to prove that I was an Australian with proper accommodation. That's Sweden. I don't want to find out how ICE will treat me.”

Author Mike Brooks let it be known that while he wouldn’t have attended anyway, he really wouldn’t attend now, “I've never been to the US, being fairly unadventurous by nature, but right now you could literally offer me an all-expenses-paid Guest of Honour slot at WorldCon* and I'd refuse (not least because all expenses being paid would probably make it worse...)”

Meanwhile, Robin Hobb, the only author people might have heard of in this hyperventilation, posted she would be attending, “Worldcon is in Seattle this year. I'm looking forward to attending.”

However, random people on BlueSky voicing panic is enough to get the Worldcon Chair to make a statement, stunning and brave as always:

I am writing this statement in order to share the status of Seattle Worldcon’s current journey through living up to our theme of Building Yesterday’s Future—For Everyone. We have received a number of concerns asking how the convention will respond to orders and actions of the U.S. government, which we condemn, that create hostile conditions and travel barriers for LGBTQ+ members and international members.

We appreciate everyone’s concerns as we navigate the current political landscape together. As I stated when we won the bid, our theme is an acknowledgment that we have not successfully built the future we have aspired to, but we are also inspired by optimism for a better future—including the movements that have existed throughout history pushing us to build communities and pushing us to recognize our shared humanity. The personal is political, and our fandom lives cannot and should not be separated from that reality.

We are not going to get everything right, and I am explicitly asking for your grace as we move forward, do our best, listen to feedback, and correct our course as necessary.

We do not have a list of all the steps we are going to take in light of the political landscape right now, as it continues to shift rapidly. We know this is not a particularly satisfying answer in light of the many concerns that we have heard from you about our members who need to enter the United States and what they might encounter trying to cross the border. We are not minimizing those concerns. The situation is frightening, and we encourage our members to make the best decisions for themselves even if that means that we will miss you at our convention. At the same time we are committed to not cancelling the in-person Worldcon as some have suggested because it is even more important than ever to gather with those who are able to do so to discuss our theme and celebrate the power of SFF to imagine different societies.

We are investigating what concrete actions we can take and offer to our members. Our Code of Conduct, Diversity Commitment, and Anti-Racism Statement provide the guidelines we are using in making these determinations. We would also like to remind people about what we are already doing.

First, we have in place a Virtual Membership for people who determine that they are no longer safe traveling to the U.S. or cannot attend for other reasons. As part of our program, we are partnering with groups from around the world to bring virtual panels to the shoulder hours (before and after in-person programming) every day of the convention to broaden our streaming offerings and include members from other parts of the world. We are actively working on this part of our virtual event and more announcements will be forthcoming. You also can participate in the Hugo Awards online–voting on the final ballot, and discussing Finalists with each other on our social media or in your own book clubs. There is also the on-line Business Meeting as has been previously announced.

Second, building on the work of other Worldcons and conventions, we will be having Safer Spaces Lounges available for members of marginalized communities who attend the convention in person. These spaces will be marked on convention maps.

Third, we will be drafting a resource guide to collate many of the wonderful resources that local organizations have already put together. In the interim, the ACLU of Washington has several Know Your Rights publications available, as does Northwest Immigrants Rights Project for individuals concerned about their rights while traveling.

Fourth, we will be fundraising for the following nonprofit organizations at the convention: Books to Prisoners, The Bureau of Fearless Ideas, and Hugo House. All of these organizations do important work to promote literacy education in the Seattle area and help build community resilience.

Finally, the political landscape is changing daily and impacting all of us in differing, but profound ways. Our staff is not immune. Many of our staff are deeply, personally impacted by the actions of the U.S. president, as his bigoted and hateful orders target our shared humanity. Many of us are federal employees who are now navigating what is happening to the civil service, terminations from our careers, and extreme uncertainty about our livelihoods. Many of us are also still dealing with the impact of the Los Angeles fires, Hurricane Helene, tornadoes, and other recent severe weather events on our families, loved ones, and friends. As citizens in the U.S. and around the world, we have many concerns, which are probably similar to yours. We all care deeply about our community and about Worldcon and are working diligently to navigate all of the waters that surround us, but we are also human with all the fallibility, blind spots, and competing demands on our time that entails.

This is a time to support each other. If you have questions about how we can support you in deciding about your Worldcon attendance, please reach out to chair@seattlein2025.org.

In solidarity,

Kathy Bond

(she/her)

Chair Seattle Worldcon 2025

In solidarity, even though no one has been harmed, nothing actually has happened to any potential Worldcon attendees, they appear to be in abject panic because Donald Trump is president. It is worth noting that Worldcon was held when Donald Trump was president from 2017 to 2020 with no problems, except the 2020 year being self-canceled because of their panic over the fake COVID-19 virus, where they held it virtually instead.

What do you think of WorldCon panicking about Donald Trump? Leave a comment and let us know.

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