Saundra,

Thank you for your detailed, thoughtful response to our invitation to have this dialogue.  Your commitment to fair, balanced, and unbiased reviews for LGBTQA+ young adults is evident and much appreciated.

We see the damaging flaws in our reviews that you have pointed out. Your comments are absolutely correct, and we are sincerely sorry for any hurt or censorship we have caused among our readers, the young adults they serve, and our friends and families in LGBTQA+ communities. Our editor in chief and reviews editor have begun training on LGBTQA+ sensitivity (with GLAAD, Heartland Trans* Wellness Group, and other online resources, and through direct communication with LGBTQA+ advocates) and are sharing this training with our writers and reviewers on an on-going basis. Both editors are aware of the importance of this training and have made it a priority to continuously seek out resources for increasing sensitivity to all of the diverse communities VOYA serves.

We are incorporating many of the thoughtful comments we have received into our updated editorial and review guidelines. Updated review guidelines will be posted on our website in the next couple days, and sent via individual emails to each member of the VOYAreview team. The emails will include your review examples and critiques as examples of what all future VOYA reviews will avoid (and why). The updated editorial and review guidelines will include your suggested links, as well as links to other resources.

VOYA strives to serve the needs of our readership in ways that are useful, immediately employable, and representative of the many different young adults they serve. We are committed to moving forward with our expanded awareness. We extend our sincere gratitude to you (and so many others) for helping us become aware of the issues we were unaware of before, and the errors we have made that we did not see. Your contribution to VOYA and our readers, and particularly to the young adults they serve, will be immeasurable as wecontinue to grow in our mission to advocate for all young adults in a responsible, respectful, and representative manner.

Sincerely,

VOYA Magazine