This past weekend #BoycottLGBTAwards was a worldwide trending topic on Twitter. While this seems like it might be a pretty hateful hashtag for so many people to get behind, it is actually well-deserved.
The LGBT Awards in question take place in the United Kingdom and according to their website “[are] designed to showcase individuals and organisations who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the LGBT community. We believe that those who go the extra mile to ensure equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all, regardless of sexuality or gender, deserve to be recognised.” Unfortunately there are a number of cisgender (cis), people whose experiences of their own gender agree with the sex they were assigned at birth, and straight nominees in numerous categories.
Categories like music artist list nominees such as Zayn Malik, while the category for straight allies list undeserving nominees such as Nigella Lawson and Zoe Sugg (a popular content creator on Youtube). Don’t get me wrong, I am personally a fan of both Sugg and Malik, but the inclusion of those who do not fall within the LGBT+ community undermines the effect and meaning of these awards.
None of the three aforementioned people belong on the list of nominees for any LGBT+ awards, not only due to their gender and sexuality identification, but because they are not allies worthy of an award.
Nominees were given a short bio expressing who they are and what they have done for the LGBT+ community. According to the award’s website, Malik was questioned about his sexuality in 2014, and said “Just be yourself. If that’s who you are, that’s who you are and don’t be afraid to be the person that you are.” Despite this statement, Malik is not known for being an ally. He is not particularly active or vocal about supporting the LGBT+ community, which I feel should be a minimum requirement for nomination.
Sugg’s “qualifications” for straight ally, according to her bio, include video blogging with a close gay friend and advocate, Tyler Oakley, as well as writing about real teen issues including sexuality in her novel “Girl Online.” Sugg has a following of over 10 million people on YouTube, and until she uses her massive following as a platform to be an active LGBT+ advocate, I would not consider her an ally worthy of international recognition.
Nigella Lawson is a straight, cis supporter of gay rights charity Terrence Higgins Trust. According to Lawson’s bio, she “has joked that she considers herself to be a gay man in a woman’s body and told lesbian magazine DIVA that all women have it in them to fall in love with someone of the same sex.” Bisexuality is a real thing and it’s not a thing all women “magically” are by virtue of being women. Erasing bisexuality makes you the opposite of an ally, much less an ally deserving of award. Also, saying you’re gay but in the wrong body when you’re actually a straight, cis person has never been anything other than transphobic.
Straight, cis celebrities like Malik have asterisks next to their names to indicate how and why they are nominated. The awards made the following statement on the matter.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, The British LGBT Awards accepted public nominations in this category, regardless of the nominee’s sexuality, gender, ethnicity, disability, age, education, race and religion.”
Straight allies are a huge part of creating positive change for the LGBT+ community; however straight people do not need more recognition and praise. The inclusion of straight, cis people as nominees for LGBT+ awards devalues the awards, not because they cannot be influential and positive allies for the community, but because they are not in need of more acceptance, nor are they regularly overlooked for nominations and awards due to their sexuality.
Diversity is also significantly less prominent in the award ceremony than one might think based on the organization’s devotion to both it and inclusion. Out of 80 people nominated, only 10 are people of color (POC), and only six nominees are transgender. However, 23 nominees are straight, meaning there are nearly four times as many straight people nominated for LGBT+ awards than there are trans people.
Making the faces of the LGBT+ movement so overwhelmingly white, straight and cis not only ignores the “T,” it also ignores the intersectional and increased struggle of the LGBT+ community and the POC within it, putting value and focus in all the wrong places.