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There is a huge difference between someone who is/was a racist, and someone who habitually sexually abuses children.
Racism can be discussed, debated, and minds changed. I've seen it in my own family...people raised a certain way, with hate for anyone different than they are, can change their views. My father was raised with extreme racial views. He did not hold those views as he got older, and had children and grandchildren. He changed his views.
Physical and sexual abuse of children is criminal, not just morally distasteful. It damages the victims in ways that can't always fully be understood, nor "fixed." Many times it is done by people who are mentally unbalanced, especially in the habitual cases.
I'm not talking about global attitudes here, and the systematic racism that has been part of many culture's pasts. That's another discussion.
If I knew an author had been guilty of physical or sexual abuse of children, I wouldn't want to read their books.
I wouldn't feel quite the same about an author who hated Jews or black people, but would still hesitate to support them by reading their work. The two issues don't evoke the same response for me.
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