Victoria Brownworth and J. Michael Bailey

Victoria Brownworth was on the 2003 selection committee for the Lambda Literary Awards. This committee voted to honor The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey as a finalist for an award in the trans category in February 2004.

Victoria A. Brownworth

Author and critic
c/o Hazel McPhee
311 W. Seymour St. Philadelphia, PA 19144

On 24 February 2004, the selection committee inlcuding Victoria Brownworth voted to retain the nomination of this book over the objections of the trans community and other concerned parties around the world.

In March 2004, the committee reconsidered and withdrew this nomination.

I will publish any comments or responses from Victoria A. Brownworth regarding this matter as I receive them.

Ms. Brownworth is under the mistaken impression that Bailey is somehow being censored:

"Banning a book and censoring a book are two different things. While I hate to be the titular voice of the ACLU here, especially since I personally disagree with many aspects of Bailey's book, if we take the book off the list we are indeed censoring it. It doesn't matter what our reasons are."

Below is my 12 March 2004 thank-you note to Lambda Literary:

Thanks for revoking the Bailey nomination.

Please assure Victoria Brownworth that choosing not to honor a book does not constitute censorship. In fact, her earlier decision in honoring a book by a guy who claims gays are evolutionary mistakes and transwomen are a bunch of prostitutes and paraphilics has undoubtedly increased his sales and visibility. Renee Reed at the Minneapolis Public Library was motivated to add the book back to their LGBT pride list based on LLF’s February recommendation. See the letter below.

Ms. Brownworth should be very proud for making Bailey’s book more widely available and giving its eugenics ideology more credibility. She has personally helped to undo a lot of work undertaken to alert the public about the problems with this book.

The issue at hand is not censorship, but LLF’s commitment to recognizing quality. This book is not only defamatory, but does not even hold up to the minimal standards of scientific rigor. There were at least five more academically rigorous books on the topic last year. You made the right decision in not honoring Bailey’s.
I am sure this has been a harrowing ordeal, and I hope you feel the integrity of your process has remained intact.

Now I have to go fight a new battle— a couple of people on the Oscar nominating committee say Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle is being censored because it was passed up for Best Picture over their objections. Maybe I can put them in touch with Ms. Brownworth so they can commiserate.

Seriously, thanks again for doing the right thing.

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> > From: "Reed, Renee S" <RReed@mplib.org>
> > Subject: "The Man Who Would be Queen" and the MPL Pride booklist
> > Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:06:58 -0600
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)
> > Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> > boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C406EC.01A44D90"
> > Content-Length: 2266

Dear Correspondent,

Please forgive our delayed response. Your comments regarding the entry of the book entitled: The Man Who Would BE Queen by J. Michael Bailey on the Minneapolis Public Library "2003 Pride Booklist" were very much appreciated.

As the book was somewhat controversial, we received a variety of comments from readers causing the entry to be removed from the list momentarily and then reinstated. I have recently become aware that the Lambda Book Report has indicated that this same title is now a Lambda Literary Award finalist in the "transgender" category.

Your thoughtful and sensitive perspective was very much appreciated.

While we desire to be respectful and responsive to our readership, we also do not wish to present a singular view that suggests self-censoring. It is our hope that the annual "Pride Booklists" will be well-received by the GLBT Community as an acknowledgment of respect for a group of readers whose library needs and wishes are regarded as being important to us. Thank you for your communication and for sharing your feelings about a book title that elicited considerable emotional response amongst some who viewed the booklist. Your comments help us to better serve you and for that we are most grateful.

--- Renée Reed
Renée Reed
Patron Services Manager
Fine Arts, Social Sciences, Periodicals,
History & Special Collections
(612)630-6302
rreed@mplib.org
Minneapolis Public Library
250 S. Marquette Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2188

Other resources

Lambda Literary Foundation index page

LINK: Full Lambda Literary Award coverage (by Professor Lynn Conway)