Lambda Literary controversy in newly-minted “Transgender Fiction” category

No love lost between author-siblings Leslie Feinberg and estranged sister Catherine Ryan Hyde

2011 will be remembered as a landmark year in the history of trans art, in no small part due to the fact that the Lambda Literary Foundation has, for the first time, in 2011, split the “transgender” category into “transgender non-fiction” and “transgender fiction.” No longer will transgender coffee table photography books compete against transgender novels or transgender poetry chap books for the same sliver of recognition.

However, the new options come not without controversy. It should be noted that, unless I’m missing something, no author who is nominated in the transgender fiction category is actually transgender. I’m not a big stickler for identity politics, but as a rule of thumb, I’d like to have seen a majority of transpeople, or even just one, single, trans author in this category. (Too much to ask, Lambda?)

Among the lucky finalists is a name that might not be unfamiliar to you if you’ve turned on a computer in the last four months. Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of more than a dozen novels, including Pay It Forward, which was released as a a movie of the same name in 2000, was nominated in two categories this year for her young adult novel Jumpstart The World. The book was publicly derided by Leslie Feinberg as the product of a “relative with an axe to grind” in a 3,000 word screed in January. Feinberg insists that Hyde has appropriated hir life to promote the book, and paints a bleak picture of their estrangement. Catherine Ryan Hyde responded with her own explanation, apologizing for one quote in which she said that transgender people have a sort of birth defect, and arguing that she is gay and that she has a “good current friend” who is is a transman. She does confirm that she did tell anyone who asked about the transgender character that she was moved to write about transpeople because she has a transgender sibling.

Even though Feinberg’s letter is rambling, melodramatic and over the top, while Hyde’s response is calm, direct and reasonable, it’s hard not to side with the trans person. Perhaps this is because I have my own estranged sister, and the thought of her writing a book and using her biological relationship with me in order to market it on her book tour gives me chills. Maybe it is that there are countless individuals who build their careers producing content about trans people, none of which actually benefits trans people very much. I’m thinking of Trans Generation and Boys Don’t Cry but please include any Ph.D student who has tried to get you to answer a survey for their dissertation, or any MFA student who begs you to pose in their studio. The trans person-as-object isn’t nearly as offensive to me as it is boring. It has been done over and over again, and frankly, being a unicorn is exhausting.

To be sure, the Feinberg-Hyde conflict has stirred emotions about this year’s Lammys. But the family drama has little to do with why it is so astounding that this book became a finalist. The truth is that, irrespective of transgender politics and family feuds, Jumpstart The World is a terrible, stupid book. Because it is a poorly written book with a teenaged protagonist, it, sadly and commercially, passes muster as a “young adult novel,” but great literature it is not. Let me give you a short summary, in case you want to spare yourself the trouble of being seen reading it yourself.

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