Group rescinds honor for disputed book

The Lambda Literary Foundation announced Friday that it was removing a controversial book about transsexuality, titled “The Man Who Would Be Queen,” from a list of finalists for its annual literary awards.

Written by J. Michael Bailey, chair of the psychology department at Northwestern University, and subtitled, “The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism,” the book has been under fire from transgender activists and academics since its publication last April. Critics have derided it as lacking in science, perpetuating stereotypes about transgender women and casting gender-bending as a perversion.

A panel of Lambda Literary Foundation (LLF) judges reviewed the finalists in the transgender category and deemed the book “not appropriate for the category.” LLF then made the “difficult and humbling” decision to remove the book from consideration altogether, according to a press release on the LLF Web site.