Lambda Literary Award
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award. The Lambda Literary Foundation states that its mission is "to celebrate LGBT literature
LGBT literature
Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the LGBT community, or which involves characters, plot lines or themes portraying male homosexual behavior.-Subgenres:...
and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians - the whole literary community." The awards were instituted in 1988.
Beginning in 2011, the Lambda Literary Awards also took over the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize
Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize
The Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize is an American literary award, presented annually to two writers, one male and one female, from the LGBT community to honour their body of work...
, formerly presented by the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival
Saints and Sinners Literary Festival
Saints and Sinners is an alternative literary festival specializing in LGBT literature, held in various locations around the world-famous French Quarter neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana each May.-Overview:Founded by Paul J...
. The award, endowed by academic and writer James Duggins, is presented annually to two LGBT writers, one male and one female.
Bisexual Community/Bi Any Other Name
In 1992, despite requests from the bisexual communityBisexual community
Bisexual community is a term used to describe members of the LGBT community who identify as bisexual, pansexual, "fluid", and queer-identified, as well as their allies...
for a more appropriate and inclusive category, the groundbreaking bisexual anthology Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out
Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out
Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, an anthology edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka'ahumanu, is one of the seminal books in the history of the modern bisexual rights movement...
by Loraine Hutchins
Loraine Hutchins
Loraine Hutchins is an American bisexual and feminist author, activist, and sex educator.She is the co-editor with Lani Ka'ahumanu of the anthology, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out...
and Lani Kaahumanu was forced to compete (and lose) in the category "Lesbian Anthology". Additionally in 2005, "Directed by Desire: Collected Poems" a posthumous collection of the bisexual Jamaican American
Jamaican American
Jamaican Americans are Americans of Jamaican heritage or Jamaican-born people who live in the United States of America. American citizenship is not a prerequisite of being a Jamaican American as permanent residents are also given this title....
writer June Jordan's
June Jordan
June Millicent Jordan was a Caribbean American poet, novelist, journalist, biographer, dramatist, teacher and committed activist...
work had to compete (and win) in the in the category "Lesbian Poetry".
Led by BiNet USA
BiNet USA
BiNet USA is a national bisexual/pansexual civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. It was founded to formalize communication between U.S...
, the American Institute of Bisexuality
American Institute of Bisexuality
The American Institute of Bisexuality, Inc., also referred to as AIB, is a charity founded on July 23, 1998 by sex researcher, psychiatrist and bisexual rights activist Fritz Klein M.D. to promote research and education about bisexuality....
and assisted by other bisexual organizations including BiPOL, Bialogue
Bialogue
Bialogue, a portmanteau of the words bisexual and dialogue, is an American activist/political group that started in New York City, working on issues of local, national & international interest to the bisexual, fluid, pansexual, queer-identified communities and their allies...
a group of bisexual rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activists launched a multi-year struggle that eventually culminated in 2006 with the addition of a Bisexual category.
Transgender Community/The Man Who Would Be Queen
In 2004, the book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and TranssexualismThe Man Who Would Be Queen
The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism is a 2003 book by J. Michael Bailey, published by Joseph Henry Press....
by the highly controversial researcher J. Michael Bailey
J. Michael Bailey
John Michael Bailey is an American psychologist and professor at Northwestern University. He is best known among scientists for his work on the etiology of sexual orientation, from which he concluded that homosexuality is substantially inherited...
was announced as a finalist in the Transgender category of the 2003 Awards.
Transpeople immediately protested the nomination and gathered thousands of petition signatures in opposition within a few days. After the petition, the Foundation's judges examined the book more closely, decided that they considered it transphobic
Transphobia
Transphobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards transsexualism and transsexual or transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender...
and removed it from their list of finalists. Within a year the executive director who had initially approved of the book's inclusion resigned. Executive Director Charles Flowers stated, "Further, the Bailey incident revealed flaws in our awards nomination process, which I have completely overhauled since becoming the foundation’s executive director in January 2006."