![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erastesETA:
OK - I'm closing this thread now - as there's a load of people here I don't know, have come here from God knows where, haven't even had the politesse to introduce themselves, obviously haven't bothered to check the facts before they waded in, have their facts wrong and are obviously here to 1. cause trouble and 2. troll.
I'm all for polite discussion - see my latest post, but there are limits to what even I'll take.
Continue the discussion in your own blogs, I've moved on - thanks.
I’m sure most of you have seen this by now but here is Katherine Forrest’s response to the deluge of concerns about the new lambda guidelines, which seemed to exclude non-GLBTQ writers from receiving a Lambda award.
Clarification of Lambda Literary Foundation Policy Guidelines of Nominations, 2009 Lambda Literary Awards, from Katherine V. Forrest, Interim President, Board of Trustees.
September 25, 2009 - The Board of Lambda Literary Foundation, under the leadership of Christopher Rice, (who has now resigned. erastes) spent much of last year discussing how our literature has evolved, and the actual mission of the Foundation given the perilous place we find ourselves in with our drastically changed market conditions. We also took into consideration the despair of our own writers when a heterosexual writer, who has written a fine book about us, wins a Lambda Award, when one or more of our own LGBT writers may have as a Finalist a book that may be the only chance in a career at a Lambda Literary Award.
We discussed two essential questions: who we are, what we are here to accomplish. We discussed every single word of this, our Mission statement: The Lambda Literary Foundation is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives.
Lambda Literary Foundation is a service organization for our writers. Our LGBT family of writers. We celebrate those who support our writers, those in all the allied areas of our literature: our readers, publishers, booksellers, publicists, agents, etc. We celebrate straight allies of every kind and always have throughout our history, with the Bridge Builder Award, Small Press Award, Publishers Service Award, Editor's Choice Award, among other awards and acknowledgments, and we'll continue to do so.Today we continue to be excluded in heterosexual society as we have been historically. Our books are taken from the shelves of libraries all over the country and even from the website of Amazon.com this year. It is more difficult to be an LGBT writer now than it has been in many decades, more difficult to make any income from our written words, much less a living. Publishers have closed, stores have closed, the markets seem to be shrinking with each passing day. It seems more urgent than ever that LLF be as active and supportive a service organization as we possibly can be for our own writers, and that's what we're working on, with a Board that could not be more passionate in our commitment. We will soon have a new, far more comprehensive website connecting all segments of our publishing world, and we're determined to restore our Writers Retreat for emerging writers, the single most important initiative we've undertaken next to the Lambda Literary Awards.
As to what defines LGBT? That is not up to anyone at Lambda Literary Foundation to decide. The writers and publishers are the ones who will be doing the self-identifying. Sexuality today is fluid and we welcome and cherish this freedom. We take the nomination of any book at face value: if the book is nominated as LGBT, then the author is self-identifying as part of our LGBT family of writers, and that is all that is required. There are many permutations of LGBT and they're all welcome as that LGBT term we've all adopted makes clear.
We hope this will clarify our policy and answer some of your questions and concerns. We welcome your comments.
Right then, here are my comments.
We also took into consideration the despair of our own writers when a heterosexual writer, who has written a fine book about us, wins a Lambda Award, when one or more of our own LGBT writers may have as a Finalist a book that may be the only chance in a career at a Lambda Literary Award.
So what you are saying is that you are excluding the heterosexual writers because they often write better? No, of course you are not, but it sounds this way. I hardly think that anyone “despairs” when they don’t win an award. Not one that is set up in a fair way, anyway. I know that I wouldn’t want the rules to be changed just so I have a greater chance of winning. I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “the only chance of a career at a LLA” as that doesn’t make sense.
Today we continue to be excluded in heterosexual society as we have been historically. Our books are taken from the shelves of libraries all over the country and even from the website of Amazon.com this year. It is more difficult to be an LGBT writer now than it has been in many decades, more difficult to make any income from our written words, much less a living. Publishers have closed, stores have closed, the markets seem to be shrinking with each passing day. It seems more urgent than ever that LLF be as active and supportive a service organization as we possibly can be for our own writers, and that's what we're working on, with a Board that could not be more passionate in our commitment. We will soon have a new, far more comprehensive website connecting all segments of our publishing world, and we're determined to restore our Writers Retreat for emerging writers, the single most important initiative we've undertaken next to the Lambda Literary Awards.
This is no different whether you are heterosexual or GLBTQ. Straight writers of GLBTQ fiction found their books removed from Amazon in the same way as everyone else because of the subject material, not because of the gender of the author. There was no gender discrimination as to the author, only because of the content of the books. The Running Press books – Alex being openly straight, me being Bi – were removed from the shelves of the Romance section of bookshelves and libraries (where Running Press intended them to be) because some customers complained about the nasty gay books polluting their romance. Smaller presses find their books denied from bookstores because of the CONTENT, not because of the AUTHOR.
Instead of whining about how the world is shrinking for gay books, what we should be doing is submitting our books – en masse – to the mainstream, to Mills and Boon, to every book publisher out there. Instead of hiding behind a lavender veil and agreeing with the hype that “there’s no market for it” “no-one wants to buy it” “No-one will publish it” we should be pushing—no, stabbing furiously at the heart of mainstream and forcing them to pay attention.There is already a level of acceptance of gay characters in other genres than romance. I would never have imagined, five years ago, that a gay romance line would be put into the romance aisle, but because kept being a pest, and I submitted to that publisher, it happened.
As to what defines LGBT? That is not up to anyone at Lambda Literary Foundation to decide. The writers and publishers are the ones who will be doing the self-identifying. Sexuality today is fluid and we welcome and cherish this freedom. We take the nomination of any book at face value: if the book is nominated as LGBT, then the author is self-identifying as part of our LGBT family of writers, and that is all that is required. There are many permutations of LGBT and they're all welcome as that LGBT term we've all adopted makes clear.
I would agree. It’s not up to the LLF to decide on this. I wouldn’t say that it’s up to ANYONE to decide on this. The last thing the GLBTQ society needs is someone saying “this is…”
What I can see happening here, in their “we will take your sexual persuasion on trust” is that people are going to get nasty about it. If a married man or woman submits a book, and more particularly if they win – there’s going to be wank. You know it, I know it. People are going to say “He/she’s married, she isn’t GLBTQ” What about someone like me, single but bi? Am I really bi or am I lying? What about a single celibate? Who can tell? No-one.
And what about the categories? Can only a gay man write gay fiction? A Bi write bi? and so on? When does a trans man become a woman, and if she is then a straight woman is he then ineligible for the Lambdas? Someone needs to further clarify here, I think.
My opinion is that the LLF are opening a can of worms that is going to explode in their faces when the awards are announced. I assume, from the change in policy, that they’ve had writers bitching about the winners of the awards in the past. Well, I can see that that will be nothing compared to the bitching they are going to get.
What this seems like, and what I wasn’t afraid of asking them about in my letter, is crony-ism. If they don’t KNOW if a writer is GLBTQ, then they will assume that they are not. In that case they will give the award to the “out” finalist even if his or her book is not as good as the person they are not sure about.
What concerns me most is that being forced to declare your sexual orientation is a crime—at least in the UK. My boss cannot ask me what my gender or sexual persuasion is, not even for positive discrimination. He can ask me on an application form, in the same way he can ask me for my ethnicity or religion—but I have no legal obligation to answer truthfully (I’ve often put Chinese, or Jedi) or even answer at all.
But by simply entering into the Lambda’s I have to do this.
This doesn’t bother me one whit, but what about if someone were in the armed forces? Or lived in a dangerous place for gay people, somewhere like Jamaica? it’s something to think about. I don’t know what the laws about disclosing sexual preference is in the USA, but I’m pretty sure it has to be the same, Yes? How desperate are we to win awards, anyway?
It’s given me a lot to think about.
If you have blogged about this subject, I would be very grateful if you would supply me with a link. I intend to write again to the LLF about this matter and show the depth of concern in the writing community, GLBTQ and otherwise.
Crossposted to EAA, Meta Writers.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 08:04 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 08:17 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:02 pm (UTC)You're simplifying it to black and white righteous outrage, and anyone who has any other point "Doesn't get it."
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:09 pm (UTC)http://www.mlrpressauthors.com/2009/09/the-little-lost-lambdas-some-thoughts-by-victor-j-banis/
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:15 pm (UTC)But if they decided promoting GLBT authors is better then promoting GLBT writing...which is what they're doing, I feel like this is a fair means to do it (As any). Like...you do have to weigh the benefits of award vs. being out of the closet, but I feel like...they are very upfront about you having to make that choice, and that for most people (On either end) it would not be a hard choice (I.e. those who are in unsafe area of the world to be out and proud probably would not risk it for an award, and those who are out and proud...would go for the award)
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:17 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:29 pm (UTC)And ignore that it doesn't allow for GLBT writing about not GLBT things.And then just go kick their ass, IDK.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:37 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:47 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:49 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:51 pm (UTC)(Are you guys accepting award idea or is that waaaaay down the line? Cause a GLBT Graphic novel, and a GLBT young adult award would be awesome as hell)
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:56 pm (UTC)Seriously - it's more how we'd set it up fairly. It's a pretty tight-knight group here and the thought of people screaming favouritism is pretty high on the list. Impartiality is a problem when you may well have written, edited, or contributed to works.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 10:01 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:56 pm (UTC)BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
you write too much historical gayness.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:55 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 05:59 pm (UTC)(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 08:31 pm (UTC)It's like saying that only straight people can enter the Booker. Or only people over 6foot tall. Or men.
IT MAKES NO SENSE.
Yes, no one is forcing them to enter, but the sales bump generated from things like this is significant.
As for "coming out" being important -- how DARE you make that blithe comment without understand the people and situations. In simple simple simple words: SOME PEOPLE WOULD BE KILLED. There? Get it now? Stoned to death? DOES THIS RING A FUCKING BELL???
Get your head out of your arse, join the real world and come down out of your ivory tower because real people have real problems with coming out and with your fluffy bunny outlook you're doing more harm than good!
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 08:59 pm (UTC)No, it would be like saying only a woman could win a feminist literature award. Of a Hispanic person could win a Hispanic literature award. Or, to use your example, only a tall person could win an award geared towards literature about tall people. It's not, in fact, totally arbitrary. I don't think it's necessarily the RIGHT idea, but it's also not totally arbitrary.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:08 pm (UTC)Congrats on coming out - other people may not wish make that choice. And I'm extremely surprised that anyone who has had to make that decision can talk so blithely about people having to do it. Or not writing books and submitting them to awards because they are in oppresive regieme. Actually you have me laughing now, because you don't seem to have much appreciation of literature that was written and did win awards in those very circumstances.
I think that all the awards you list below would be considered invalid in my view. I don't ask for special privileged based on who I am, I just ensure that I work twice as hard and twice as well to attain what I need to get on in my particular situation. I accept the reality of the world I live in -- and even at 28 have realised that being all sweet and nice and idealistic just leads people to fuck you over or not take seriously what you say.
We obviously have very different world views, so I'm going to bow out of this now.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:20 pm (UTC)Like I have said repetitively, I don't think I agree with it (I actually haven't put much thought into the AWARD per see, that wasn't the bit of her post I was talking about). But it's what THEY chose, then you have to play by their rules, or not care.
I was more commenting on the fact that if you make your living off of being a GLBT author, you should be able to own up to being GLBT if you are Obviously...if you're not, it would be really weird to...own up to it. And I don't think you need to be to write it well. But if you are, and yet you're panicking at the idea of owning up to it...IDK. That feels...wrong to me.
I'm not talking about the coming out mentality of someone living in a small, rural Kentucky town who hasn't confided their feeling to anyone, for an extreme example. I'm talking about the coming out mentality of someone deeply involved in the GLBT community with a strong support system and connections, etc. They're...very different situations.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 09:36 pm (UTC)1) They shifted the goalposts AFTER people already applied. Which puts people in the very strange position of declaring they are GLBTQ after the fact. Also publishers can submit on your behalf -- which begs the question how publishers KNOW if your GLBTQ.
2) I really think it depends on the person. I am a firm believer in choice, if people want to be out, they can. If they want to be closeted, they can be too.
There have also been MANY people (and I'm not sure if you know this) who have portrayed themselves online as gay men to gain a massive following, and they were straight women. It caused massive resentment.
3) Many of us writers (me included - hence the pseudonym) can't come out. Not because I live in a rural community, or anything of the sort. But because my career is not writing. Most (not saying all as not 100% sure but pretty close) people don't live just off their writing money. It's not lucrative enough. We have dayjobs where (in my case) being involved with GLBTQ would mean the end of my career. Oh, not overtly, but covertly. My extremely positive, high flying lucrative mortgage paying career.
Does that explain a bit more?
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-28 03:33 am (UTC)2. Choice is an excellent thing. You've made the choice that being closeted is a higher priority than winning this award. That's your choice to make, would that it weren't necessary, but it's the path you're walking. The LLF has every right and, more importantly, a very legitimate reason to choose to say that you are consequently ineligible for their award, and that doesn't diminish the status of their award.
3. That some writers cannot come out is not a reason why anyone else, including the LLF, should change their course of action. It's a sad fact of life but that's all it is. It's irrelevant to the discussion.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-29 03:36 pm (UTC)fortunateprivileged enough to have a "high flying lucrative" career because you pass as straight.And you expect us to take your arguments seriously?
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2009-09-29 03:37 pm (UTC)2. For an award dedicated to raising the profile of the GLBTQ community it makes no sense to cater to people in the closet or people who are straight.
3. Your decision to remain closeted is totally up to you, but that then means you are working at cross purposes to the Lambda's goal.