By Robyn Ochs
There’s a lot to report this time, folks. Here’s some of it:
THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS
On June 2nd at the 26th annual Lambda Literary Awards in New York, Susan Choi was awarded the Bisexual Fiction prize for her novel, My Education. The Lammys, as they’re known, recognize the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the previous year. The Bisexual Nonfiction award went to The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television by Maria San Filippo, Indiana University Press.
AND THE BISEXUAL BOOK AWARDS
The Second Annual Bisexual Book Awards ceremony, organized by the Bi Writers Association (BWA), took place on Saturday, May 31, honoring six categories of bisexual books and two special categories, for books published in 2013. A total of 60 books were nominated.
Congratulations to all who were nominated and especially to those who won this year’s competition:
Bisexual Fiction: The City of Devi by Manil Suri, W. W. Norton & Company
Bisexual Non-fiction: Anything That Loves: Comics Beyond Gay and Straight edited by Charles “Zan” Christensen, Northwest Press
Bisexual Speculative Fiction [Sci-fi/ Fantasy/Horror/Etc.]: Pantomime by Laura Lam, Strange Chemistry
Bisexual Teen/Young Adult Fiction: Inheritance by Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Bisexual Biography/Memoir: The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia by Alden Jones, Terrace Books/The University of Wisconsin Press
Bisexual Erotic Fiction/Erotica: The Reunion by Adriana Kraft, B&B Publishing
Bisexual Book Publisher of the Year: (Tie) Circlet Press and Riverdale Avenue Books
Bi Writer of the Year: Shiri Eisner, author of Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution, Seal Press
THE FENWAY INSTITUTE HOSTS GROUNDBREAKING MEETING ON BISEXUAL HEALTH RESEARCH
Leading bisexual health researchers and community activists from across the country agreed to form the Bisexual Research Collaborative on Health (BiRCH) at a meeting hosted by The Fenway Institute in Boston on June 26. BiRCH will continue high-level discussions of bisexual health research, plan a national conference, and look for ways to raise public awareness of bi health issues.
The meeting was held to discuss the state of the research on bisexual health. Judith Bradford, PhD, Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute, and a Co-Chair of the meeting, noted the importance of such a gathering: “For all of the remarkable progress that has been made in the field of LGBT health, we still simply do not know enough about the full range of health needs and health concerns facing bisexual people. Today’s meeting was an important step toward addressing this significant gap.”
Read the full release at: http://fenwayfocus.org/2014/07/the-fenway-institutehosts-groundbreaking-meeting-onbisexual-health-research/
STANDING BEHIND THE PRESIDENT
On Monday, July 21, President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against workers employed by federal contractors. This order covers 30,000 companies and approximately one-fifth of the workforce. A roomful of LGBT activists were invited to witness the signing, and a handful were invited to stand on the stage during the signing ceremony. Among those was was BiNet USA’s President, Faith Cheltenham. Represent, Faith!
AND WAIT! THERE’S MORE…
On June 8, actress Anna Paquin posted on Twitter ”Proud to be a happily married bisexual mother. Marriage is about love not gender. @eqca @NOH8Campaign @ItGetsBetter”
And on July 21, she was on Larry King Now, during which she set the record . . . er . . . straight about bisexuality. Here’s a snippet of the conversation:
Larry King: Are you a non-practicing bisexual?
Anna Paquin: Well, I am married to my husband and we are happily monogamously married.
Larry King: So you were bisexual?
Anna Paquin: Well, I don’t think it’s a past-tense kind of thing. It doesn’t prevent your sexuality from existing. It doesn’t really work like that.
And Congratulations are due to the well respected bisexual journalist Heather Cassell for being named one of GO Magazine’s “100 Women We Love 2014.” In addition to her other fine work Cassell’s byline (bi-line?) has frequently been seen in the Bay Area Reporter covering the doings of the Bay Area Bisexual Network (BABN) and the larger bi community in the San Francisco Bay Area.