I don't want to derail this conversation too much, but part of the reason we didn't shop in in various ethnic markets was because we thought we weren't welcome, like they wanted their space. It was based in respect, actually.

Are you sure about that?

You say that you’ve changed that habit of avoidance, so I’d like to challenge you to think carefully and honestly;

Were you positive, back at that time, that an ethnic shop-owner would rather not take your money in exchange for their goods?
Really?

Why then is this particular gay space different, and why are you saying that you resent being kept out– do you not ‘respect’ this particular minority enough?
And also;

Let’s say that you can truthfully say you stayed out of Hispanic spaces out of respect.
How then did you label the rest of the space, the parts these other ethnicities didn’t get to claim?

I am asking this because you say you’ve never heard of an award given to straight white men specifically…

Thank you for this.

I, as a gay man, also do not want to be seperated from the rest of society. I really don’t. I’ve had very unpleasant hospital visits in the past as a consequence of this othering. I have lost friends, family and relationships because of it.

But, the thing is, we’re not trying to seperate ourselves – but we have been othered by the mainstream. Yes, it’s awful, it’s wrong and it has horrific consequences but it has been done to us and while we work every day in every way to try and push that back, we can’t ignore it.

I would prefer if these barriers were removed, I really would. But we didn’t put them there and we’re not the ones maintaining them. And if we have to live behind them we have to work to a) pull them down and b) create safe spaces for our own survival, mental health and sense of wellbeing and worth.

I think awards like LLF are very important for the latter purpose, in a world that tells us we have little or no worth, that we are lesser, that we are a sickness, unworthy, a threat then an organisation that seeks to promote us, celebrate us and empower us is valuable

But I/we weren't bitching about exclusion as straight women who want in, but as bisexuals who have been pretty much perpetually shut out from LLF for all but the obligatory lipservice. Except for the trolling Anon, I recall remarkably little standing on privilege by any self-identified straight authors on this thread. Just so we're clear, because it doesn't seem right to be tarring the thread's straight authors with a brush that -’ at least in this time around -’ doesn't seem to be deserved.

Oh, no, no. No one on this thread. I was just saying I happen to follow a lot of author blogs, so I meant elsewhere on the web. No authors on this thread bitching/moaning. Sorry if it looked like I was talking about anyone here.

@Anon
This is hard because these are really major and important concepts when it comes to marginalised groups and I don't know how to get them across to you if you haven't got them yet. Worse, as this progresses your analogies are crossing the line from “inaccurate” to “severely disrespectful” to put it mildly.

Sparky, thank you for your civil respsonse. I had to think about your words and analyze my own attitudes concerning this conversation.

I have identified the communication barrier occuring in my discourses in this thread. I have determined I am at fault.

You are correct, I am not identifying the GLBT community as a separate community nor do I want to. I’m not comfortable with the GLBT community being “separate” from myself, I’d rather we were all just people.

Once I understood this, I had to question why I feel this way so strongly that I would fight and quarrel tooth and nail like a rabid dog over the issues in this thread.

I’m not going to overdose you with TMI, but please believe me when I tell you I have experienced first hand and very young how destructive anti-GBLT hatred (whether true hatred or the result of miseducation) can be. It can inflict irreparable harm upon entire families, and the consequences do not end with the GBLT person. Hatred and prejudice are so evil: they hurt everyone.

I thought I was observing this issue dispassionately; I understand now I was not. The Lambda award limitations pushed my “freak out” buttons, knocked me backward to a very dificult and damaging family crisis.

A friend and family member of GBLT individuals, I’m uncomfortable with “separating” them from myself, “recategorizing” them to someone/something “other.” So it’s inconvenient for me to perceive and accept the GBLT community as a seperate community of which I, a “straight” woman, am an outsider. Part of my reasons are practical — I think functional society requires proper boundaries, but we can all use fewer barriers and classifications, not more. But part of it’s purely personal. I grew up estranged from one parent for half my childhood and most of my teens due to legal intervention of well-intentioned homophobic relatives, I feel like I’ve endured enough separation. I understand it’s not really about me; I’m only human.

I think you and others on this thread are perceiving me as deliberately snubbing or insulting the GBLT community while I perceive myself as not acknowledging it to protect myself.

I sincerely apologize for my sarcasm and insensitivity and general bull-headedness. I do not hate or fear the GLBT community, and if that community feels the need to make something of itself for itself I have no right to question or criticize that.

But they fail to see this from any other perspective but their own. They don't try to evaluate why this new change might be in place. They're just concerned about their award. And that's why I say these authors are just making demands. I'm just calling it like I see it.

I’ve been thinking about this, and the truth is that I can’t recall anyone on this thread* who was bitching about being excluded — except, that is, ME. (And a few of my compatriots.)

But I/we weren’t bitching about exclusion as straight women who want in, but as bisexuals who have been pretty much perpetually shut out from LLF for all but the obligatory lipservice. Except for the trolling Anon, I recall remarkably little standing on privilege by any self-identified straight authors on this thread. Just so we’re clear, because it doesn’t seem right to be tarring the thread’s straight authors with a brush that — at least in this time around — doesn’t seem to be deserved.

*unless you’re talking about elsewhere on the ‘tarweebs, OR that I missed a whole chunk of straight-girl-privilege replies in the middle somewhere… in which case, carry on!

Is it because of the judges? I don't read Laura Baumbach, but Victor J. Banis's stuff is wonderful. It's almost a crime he hasn't won.

I honestly am not sure. I believe Victor’s preparing a blog on the subject, so you might keep an eye out and see what he has to say :)

I totally agree with you, though. His writing is absolutely lovely, and he is one of the sweetest, most delightful human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.

Maybe I'm mistaken. I'd be happy to be mistaken, actually. I have no direct experience with them, after all, only what I've heard from those who have. If you ask Victor Banis, you'll get an earful about the LLF and their attitude toward works on the popular end of the spectrum (and their treatment of the true pioneers of gay literature, for that matter), and none of it will be very nice.

Is it because of the judges? I don’t read Laura Baumbach, but Victor J. Banis’s stuff is wonderful. It’s almost a crime he hasn’t won. I remember reading his story about a man whose face was scarred from an accident in Best Gay Romance 2008, and I had to hunt down all his other works. There’s something very soulful about his books and it’s obviously what made him popular. Add that to the fact that he’s like the pioneer of gay pulp fiction, so it does make me wonder now.

Well, it doesn’t matter any. With or without an award, he’s still the best!

From what I see on your publisher's page (MLR Press), a lot of the authors have been finalists. Laura Baumbach's works are about as literary as Twilight, and Victor Banis writes pulp fiction.

Maybe I’m mistaken. I’d be happy to be mistaken, actually. I have no direct experience with them, after all, only what I’ve heard from those who have. If you ask Victor Banis, you’ll get an earful about the LLF and their attitude toward works on the popular end of the spectrum (and their treatment of the true pioneers of gay literature, for that matter), and none of it will be very nice.

An Ally category would be really flattering *ggg* If they ever came up with something like that, I might even enter, who knows. But probably not. Honestly? I feel that RWA and the RITAs are where my work belongs. It’s romance, and dammit, the mainstream romance world OUGHT to accept it as such. I feel like that’s where my energy should be concentrated.

I’m not going to even try to argue with your opinion of me because my opinion of you is the same.

Maggie is obviously very active in Lambda, she has the scoop. No doubt she can identify names, dates, times of all the alleged “demanding” of alleged straight authors. I'm unclear how she determined the demanding authors were straight, but since she's not straight herself I'm sure her word's good.

Uh, no. I said that I never paid attention to LLA’s website until this whole debate. Where have you been?

I don’t have to be active in Lambda. I’m a reader. I follow blogs, I follow publishers, I follow authors. And I read about some of the authors who I used to admire and whose works I used to enjoy bitch and moan about how LLA’s policy is unfair to them.

I’m not decided on how I feel about this new direction in LLA’s focus, but I can see where they’re coming from. These authors bitching about unfairness only see this from one point of view: theirs. They insist that straight women have proven time and again that they can pen beautiful stories that are authentic to the gay experience. And I’m not going to argue with that because it’s true.

But they fail to see this from any other perspective but their own. They don’t try to evaluate why this new change might be in place. They’re just concerned about their award. And that’s why I say these authors are just making demands. I’m just calling it like I see it.

This is going to sound preachy, but a lot of grief could be avoided if everyone could just TRY to understand where someone else might be coming from. We live in a community. Your opinion is not the only one.

I definitely do think an Ally category would be great for everyone.

@Ally Blue:

LLF doesn't want me, not that they would have anyway (not literary enough, doncha know)

I don’t think that should stop you (or anyone else) from entering, if they ever do open up an Ally category. From what I see on your publisher’s page (MLR Press), a lot of the authors have been finalists. Laura Baumbach’s works are about as literary as Twilight, and Victor Banis writes pulp fiction. Off the top of my head, I can only remember one winner: Nicole Kimberling, who writes SF and fantasy. And on LLA’s front page, they have a huge announcement saying Richard Labonte will be administering the awards. I’m not sure what that means, but he edits erotica anthologies. So I don’t think you have to worry about your work being seen as not literary enough.

A lot of genre fiction authors seem to think the literary folk look down on them, but I’m not sure if that’s even true.

@Robin:

Also, I find unsettling the suggestion that the LLF doesn't think GLBT writers can stand up quality-wise to non-GLBT authors writing GLBT work.

I do, too. But it feels more to me like they can’t reason out LLA’s decision, so they’re just making up excuses and grasping at straws.

@kirsten saell:

Because it's perfectly possible to looooove reading m/m and still be a homophobe.

If you want to see a fine example of this, hang out on the yaoi manga forums. They have things like eye candy threads, and you will not believe some of comments that crop up. A lot of manga images are posted up, but occasionally some people will post up pictures of Asian rock stars, or actual gay men. And some of the comments towards the pictures of effeminate gay men are just nauseating. They’ll say things like, “Why does he look like a girl?” or “Too girly for me.” or “Ew. The dress kinda looks wrong on him.” What’s ironic is that yaoi is FULL of effeminate men, but I guess it’s okay if it’s just drawings on paper. That’s hot. But real life gay men? That’s squicky.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It doesn’t happen that often though, and those kinds of posters are very few. Thank god.

Okay, this is getting amusing…

(This was a doozy! I mean, really, do the judges really require “authentication of orientation?” Or do they read and judge books?

Um, we were talking about a hypothetical straight-author-only contest for GLBT lit. I think the judges would probably know they were reading straight authors’ work. And yes, entering a contest that’s open to straight people only would be in itself an authentication of your straightness. Like when you click the button that says “by clicking this, you are verifying you are eighteen or older”.

And this:

(So now, unless I pander to minorities, I'm not only an “irresponsible author,” I'm non-human or sub-human.

Uh, no. What I said was, “if you want to be responsible as an author and a freaking human being.” That is: if you want to be responsible as an author and responsible as a freaking human being. Although I suppose I could have burdened that sentence with two more commas, but honestly, it never occured to me that anyone on their worst day would have taken it the way you did. But you seem to have a knack of putting the worst possible spin on anything anyone says–when they disagree with you. Or maybe you simply measure others on by the yardstick of your own behavior. You’ve certainly gone out of your way to splatter your prejudices and stereotypes about LGBT people all over this thread.

It also sounds like I'm being warned or threatened. Someone broke out the brown shirts and I wasn't even looking. This would frighten me if I had less confidence and personal integrity, but I appreciate the honesty.)

Seriously? If I’d threatened you, there wouldn’t be any possible question of it. It wouldn’t sound like you were being threatened. You and everyone else on this thread would know it, until Jane edited it out, that is, because I can really let fly with that kind of thing when I get going. Thus far, you haven’t even made me mad enough to start dropping f-bombs all over the place–though you seem to be trying very hard at it.

You know what, anon? If there was a contest for general fiction that was only open to LGBT authors, I might be inclined to agree with you.

But dude, this is LGBT lit. Implying–heck, not implying, coming right out and explicitly saying–that not only are LGBT authors bigoted, heterophobic oppressors for wanting to have a contest just for their community of authors who write literature that explores their lives, but that it should be A-okay for straight people to hold a contest just for their community of authors for literature that explores the lives of the very people excluded from entering the contest? That’s a level of entitlement I haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing for a while.

I try to see straight authors and readers as not simply objectifying gay men and co-opting their sexuality for their own titillation the way straight men do with lesbo porn. I try, though after some of the reader discussions I’ve looked at it’s not always easy. Because it’s perfectly possible to looooove reading m/m and still be a homophobe. Shocking, I know.

But your attitude is giving me the squicks. Your sense of entitlement is…staggering. Your willingness to offend (and then add insult to injury) while at the same time crying foul over any and every perceived slight is so hypocritical I can only laugh.

You’re a piece of work. I only wish you weren’t anonymous. You give all those other anonymi a bad name…

There are INNUMERABLE literary awards out there. Some of them are also selective – some for certain races, certain areas, some for women etc. But most are not. Straight people (like any privileged group) are hardly left in the cold by the GBLT Lambda Awards being about GBLT people.

And apparently it doesn’t go without saying that there are no inherent rights to enter any award contest. In fact, the more I’ve been thinking about this, the more I believe that the whole vocabulary of “discrimination” is inaccurate (as well as unintentionally distracting). That is, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to see the LLF as doing exactly what you say — affirming the legitimacy of GLBT work by GLBT authors. They’re self-validating and self-authenticating. ALL awards are exclusive, but no one complains, for example, because the Pulitzer doesn’t have a Romance category. I understand that the LLF framing the issue in terms of personal identity alters the context, but I’m not sure it transforms the terms from exclusivity to discrimination.

Also, I find unsettling the suggestion that the LLF doesn’t think GLBT writers can stand up quality-wise to non-GLBT authors writing GLBT work. Just as I doubt that anyone who believes such a thing would want to be perceived as chewing on sour grapes or abetting the majority privilege.

ROTFLMAO. With a hierarchy of Ladies who have been fighting erotic het romance since it showed up, and who can kick a glbt romance out of the running with the tag “Not Romance?” Sure, you can enter, send in your money and many copies… but there’s not a snowball’s chance of a same-sex romance winning.

They discriminate, and a lot of them are actually proud of doing so. They are Protecting the Purity of Traditional Romance. And the only reason one-man/one-woman isn’t in their rules is because there are enough progressive members to have shouted it down.

Re the Lambda awards…

People are quoting Lambda’s stated purpose here. I want to thank TeddyPig
http://www.teddypig.com/2009/09/shame-on-me-shame-on-you/comment-page-1/#comment-2733

for posting Lambda’s ORIGINAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: “to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature.”

That makes it pretty clear. It looks to me as though the purpose has changed to protect a bunch of writers who don’t feel that their writing is good enough to compete AS WRITING. This ‘queer only’ bar suggests that they think het women can write gay men better than gay men.

That is just sad. I think more awards in Bi/Trans would be a better idea than what they’ve done. They could at least separate fiction and nonfiction. But the funny thing about a bi-romance with an opposite-sex partner.. is it would read much like a het romance. Heaven forfend!

Maybe it’s time for someone else to resurrect the concept of awards “to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature.”

As for all the ‘anon’ comments… it’s hard to give much credibility to somebody who’s hasn’t even got the cojones to use a pen name.

Well, since you brought it up… Yes, at times, we do. Being gay does not equate with being free of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred. I have personally experienced and observed GBLT people express hatred and intolerance toward others. I don't excuse their behavior because they're GBLT.

Of course GBLT people can have all the same prejudices as any other person would have. Why would you think ANYONE is free from prejudice? A GBLT person can still be sexist, racist, ableist, any number of prejudices – they can even be homophobic

However, the implication that GBLT people are even in a POSITION to discriminate against and oppress straight people is ludicrous. We simply don't have the power to oppress the poor straight folks FOR THEIR STRAIGHTNESS. That is the joy of straight privilege and the sadness of being a marginalised group.

Straight people overwhelm us. A combination of sheer numbers coupled with hatred, prejudice and oppression means the straight people are stronger than us, are more dominant than us and have created a world that largely ignores us or actively pushes us aside, forces us to hide or actively tries to harm us. This is simple reality.

These awards – and the many institutions like them both for GBLT people and for other marginalised groups – are an attempt to create an oasis in a world that is hostile. In a world that is ALL about straight people, this is a corner that is, for once, about us.

And, frankly, straight people flouncing because there is a part of the world that ISN'T about them (for once) is a mark of extreme privilege. And equating seeking a sanctuary like this with bigotry and oppression is ludicrous and deeply clueless.

You CANNOT divorce ideas of prejudice and exclusion from the realities of power, privilege and dominance in the world.

I know, and I think and say it is immoral. Come on. Let's tell truth and shame the Devil. Discriminating against a writer because the writer is gay is wrong.

So is discriminating against a writer because the writer is NOT gay.

Again, you are not looking at this in the context of the way the world is. You're speaking as if straight and gay people are on an equal footing in terms of power.

This isn't two equal teams say “if you don't let me play in your half then I won't let you play in mine.” This is the straight team saying “Everything is ours. Everything is about us. Everything will support us” and the GBLT saying “well, that sucks. We're going to make this corner over here for us. It's not much, but until the rest of the world let's us in we need places like this.” But straight team is right there growling angrily “THAT needs to be about us too!”

I hear and I respect you. I understand the purpose of Lambda. I do no condemn Lambda's policies. If you followed this thread, I have repeatedly stated that. My question is what about non-gay writers who write gay?

See, I don't think you DO hear me. Because you've been running past it not getting it repeatedly. You see unable to deal with straight privilege. You've dismissed actual offence from actual bisexuals. You referred to offended GBLT people as “hypersensitive” a loaded, disrespectful silencing team used against marginalised people again and again. “Self-victimisation” a term used to belittle prejudice faced as fancily or even fantasy. “Pandering to minorities” yeah, like that's not loaded, tired and overused. You've used analogies comparing an attempt for gay empowerment to hatred, segregation and bigotry – which, apart from being hyperbolic, is extremely disrespectful and insulting. You have made comments that reduce being GBL to being just about who we have sex with.

You do not condemn Lambda's policies but you compare it to racial segregation in the US in the mid 20th century? You call it the same kind of hatred? (And that's AFTER Jane's edits to make it appropriate so gods alone know what it was like before!)

There are INNUMERABLE literary awards out there. Some of them are also selective – some for certain races, certain areas, some for women etc. But most are not. Straight people (like any privileged group) are hardly left in the cold by the GBLT Lambda Awards being about GBLT people.

I'd ALSO question priorities here. The Lambda awards are to try and elevate, protect and serve a marginalised group in the face of generalised and pervasive oppression. To counter that with “but I want an award to put on my book's blurb!” seems… inadequate.

But my understanding of the situation is that non-GBLT authors of GLBT books are now the “orphans” of the industry. What about their needs for validation and recognition of their work? (NOTE -’ I am not saying GLBT authors dont share this need, just that we now have a disenfranchised “group within a group.”)_

Disenfranchised group within a group? Which group? Straight people. That is the group that is disenfranchising the genre. The GBLT people aren't disenfranchising you. You weren't excluded from the GBLT author's group because you were never part of it.

You think the genre doesn't get enough attention? Great. I agree. Let us make the genre more prominent. Let us make more “mainstream” folks stand up and pay attention.

But the Lambda awards aren't about the genre. They're not about straight authors. They're (and I say again as plainly as I can) not about you. They're about GBLT authors.

Straight authors want validation? Good, long may they seek it and I hope they get it. But why does a GBLT award has to give you that validation? Why does the GBLT award have to be about straight people or about what straight people want it to be about? Why is the straight person's need for validation even considered on par with a marginalised group's attempt at redressing societal prejudice, let alone considered more important than it?

Here is an organisation saying “this is about GBLT authors. This is about us” and we have some privileged straight folks saying “but I want validation. I want cookies. Make it about me! Make it about what I want it to be about.”

Not to mention inciting anger removes the focus from the pertinent issues mentioned above.

And in a discussion that at least tangentially touches on gay people as a marginalised group, the need for gay spaces and discrimination against gay people, you think you can tell gay people what is pertinent?

You said something offensive that made people understandably angry and rather than apologise you dismissed the anger and the offence, insulted the offended as hypersensitive and instructed them when their offence would be acceptable. In a discussion that, by its very nature, is very bout straight privilege I would call this text book example most expressly pertinent.

I claim hateful language as hateful language. Period. Do you claim this statement unhateful if a straight writer objects to inclusion of GBLT writers in a competition with this statement: ” Letting those authors enter was a mistake. One of those “seemed like a good idea at the time” things. I mean, who knew gay dudes would end up dominating the market, both as writers and consumers?”

And I call ignorance ignorance. Again you are refusing to own your privilege. Again you are blind to the marginalisation of gay people. Again, you refuse to acknowledge the power difference between gay and straight people. Again you are acting like gays are the dominant power and straights are the marginalised groups.

I think this is a waste of time and keystrokes, but can't you see how grossly inaccurate, inappropriate and downright offensive your analogy is?

Segregation came about out of hatred and prejudice. A belief that black people were inferior and a determination to deny them basic rights and respect. An attempt to push them out of as much of life as was possible to do so. Segregation was about oppression and hatred.

The Lambda awards are about protection and empowerment. They aren't trying to beat down straight authors (like they have that kind of power!) they're trying to reverse a system that is already beating down GBLT people. They aren't trying to keep straight people out of literary awards, they're trying to create a space for GBLT people in a world that would try to keep us out.

It reminds me of an old saying Creoles had about the Anglos: “Every Anglo objects to Creoles owning property, racing, or wearing fashionable clothes. Particularly if the Creole has a bigger house, a faster horse, or a prettier daughter than the Anglo.”

Yes that saying is appropriate. You're objecting to the GBLT people having something that is for them. Despite the fact that the straight people (like the Anglos in the saying) have 90% of everything and are grossly privileged compared to GBLT people, you're still complaining because the GBLT people have this.

You can claim to bear what I'm saying. You can claim that you respect me – us. But when you paint straight people as the victims and gay people as the oppressors? I'm not believing it

I don't see anybody threatening my rights as a straight woman. This is about a marginalised group trying to have something for themselves. It really isn't about me.

Exactly! This is what I have said from my original post, that private organizations have the right do what they want so long as they break no laws or violate public policy. My opinion remains consistent. Private organizations have the right to do what they wish.

ALL private organizations.

I think Anne Somerville mentions ‘white women's tears' on her blog. That's exactly how I see some of the bitching and whining going on here.

You mean like this?

#113 Sparky = Aw c'mon now, we'd made all the way down this comment stream without someone having to fill in this bingo square. Any discrimination law and rational thought on discrimination can acknowledge WHY certain exclusion is problematic.

# 116 Mfred = I think the fight people should be having here is with RWA, publishers, and yes, even readers, who exclude gay (or any minority) content. Not LLA for trying to create a for-gay, by-gay space in the world.
(Me: This qualifies as the ULTIMATE in bitchery to me. Since when do writers and/or fans of specific genres entitled to “fight” readers for not reading those genres? Phew!)

#127 Mfred = Let's make a deal:
All you straights give me the right to marry my partner, and I will let straight women who write m/m fiction win a Lambda. I'll just walk up to those Lambda's and whip out my gay identify card and DEMAND JUSTICE. They will listen to me because I am gay and they are gay and we all agree on the same gay things.
But only after I can legally marry my partner. Uh, and maybe after we file our first joint tax return, just in case. Deal?

# 129 Maggie = If people want to insist on fairness, they have to recognize that they don't have the right to dictate to a minority group how to run things in their community. If they as a group decide to nurture the talent in their own community, that's their decision. And if they decide to return to how they did it before, that's also their decision-’to be made without the input or demands of straight authors with their sense of entitlement, because straight people have already rejected and locked LGBTs out of many of their activities.

#130 Sparky = If society didn't throw us out onto the fringes, we wouldn't feel the need to build our own structures on the outskirts

# 139 Maggie = Your attitude and obliviousness to LGBTI people's struggles are painting your “solution” in a really negative light. You realize what you are saying is that if LGBT people want to exclude heterosexuals from their “pool” because it's gotten crowded, then they shouldn't get angry at privileged straight people for excluding them from THEIR pool, which they were already excluded from to begin with. You're just rubbing salt in the wound. You realize that, right? Please tell me you do.
(self-victimization, personal attack and criticism for the “wrong attitude” and “saying the wrong things.” I missed the policy on this blog indicating I must word all my statements very carefully so as not to offend this lady.)# 142 Maggie = The only reason this became an issue at all is because straight authors started making demands and telling LLA what's fair and what's not fair (as if LGBT people wouldn't have a clue about fairness).

(Maggie is obviously very active in Lambda, she has the scoop. No doubt she can identify names, dates, times of all the alleged “demanding” of alleged straight authors. I'm unclear how she determined the demanding authors were straight, but since she's not straight herself I'm sure her word's good.)

#145 kirsten saell = If you want to tell a panel of GLBT contest judges that they're only allowed to look at m/m written by straight women and f/f written by straight men, go ahead. See what kind of reaction you get.
(This was a doozy! I mean, really, do the judges really require “authentication of orientation?” Or do they read and judge books?

#147 Maggie = You seem to be taking everything anyone is saying and twisting it around. Frankly, it's making me dizzy.
(Now I'm to blame for the poster's defective analytical skills and their physical impact upon her person. Wow.)I think it's pretty clear by now that what I consider discriminatory and what you consider discriminatory are completely different.
(Another doozy! Now discrimination is subject to individual consideration?)Your maturity just shines through.
(Pure comedy, considering the source.)

# 149 kirsten saell = But if you want to be responsible as an author and a freaking human being, and you aren't a member of the group you're writing about, you make some damn concessions…When you're on the top of the heap, yeah, you've gotta eat some shit once in a while.
#150 kirsten saell = But if you hang a “*anti-gay hate word*s not welcome” sign on the door, well, I guess you know what would happen.

(So now, unless I pander to minorities, I'm not only an “irresponsible author,” I'm non-human or sub-human. It also sounds like I'm being warned or threatened. Someone broke out the brown shirts and I wasn't even looking. This would frighten me if I had less confidence and personal integrity, but I appreciate the honesty.)

#156 Alex Beecroft = I'd be amongst the crowd with pitchforks outside demanding for it to be shut down.
(more threats against my doing…what? Having an opinion unpopular with the majority? In all fairness this poster did retract the comment later, but only after I responded to the comment.)Currently straight people have more rights than GBLT ones, so it is fair for them to occasionally give up something in order to redress the balance.
(Alex's statement, outright, that straight people losing “something” is “fair.” Since my response several people have commented about MY response (as in being unwilling to relinquish my rights and even asking outright for codes and statutes indicating what rights straight citizens should “fairly” relinquish and received no response, other than for Alex to comment (#158 = “I'm not quite sure who's threatening my rights as a straight woman here. When I see them being threatened, I will stand up for them. But I don't see that happening at the moment.” Then goes on to advise me to “set up ‘my' award,” implying I am creating an award when in fact I never gave such indication. This is deliberate dishonesty and subterfuge, or perhaps Alex has better things to do than pay close attention to this blog and is speaking in error )

I am done. I wish you all well, and I wish Lambda the best.