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Victoria Brownworth
Born1960
Alma materTemple University
Known forjournalist, writer, and editor

Victoria A. Brownworth (born February 1959 or 1960)[1][2] is an American journalist, writer, and editor. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she wrote numerous award-winning articles about AIDS in women, children, and people of color.[3] She was the first person in the United States to write a column about lesbianism in a daily newspaper.[3]

In 1983, Brownworth reported on the "corruption at a Philadelphia based social service agency."[3] She has also won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery for her 2016 novel Ordinary Mayhem.[4][5]

Brownworth uses "she" and "they" pronouns.[6]

Early life

[edit]

Brownworth published her first book of poetry at age 18[7] and began writing for Philadelphia Gay News when she was 17.[8]

Brownworth studied American studies and women's history at the Temple University and represented the university at the first National Women's Studies Association.[9] Near graduation, she became the star witness "in the first federal police brutality trial in Philadelphia." The police were acquitted, and she began her career in advocacy journalism.[10]

Career

[edit]

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Brownworth worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.[3] She was the first open lesbian to have a daily column,[11] and may have been the first to have a daily column about lesbian issues.[3] Later, she became a host on Amazon Country on WXPN-FM, the first lesbian radio program in the United States.[3]

In 1993, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Brownworth began focusing primarily on writing books and editing anthologies.[3]

She has also been a contributing editor for Curve[12] and Lambda Literary Review and has been a regular contributing writer for SheWired, Advocate,[13] The Independent, and HuffPost.

In 2010, Brownworth co-founded Tiny Satchel Press, a publishing company that printed young adult books featuring characters from systemically marginalized populations.

Brownworth has won the Society of Professional Journalism Award[14] and the NLGJA Award.[12]

Personal life

[edit]

In her early-to-mid-thirties, Brownworth started experiencing a number of symptoms she chalked up to being overworked (e.g., general malaise and difficulty walking).[15] In one 18-month period, she broke 13 bones due to her symptoms, though she still believed nothing was seriously wrong.[15] However, when she went blind due to optic neuritis, she visited a doctor who diagnosed her with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, a diagnosis she resisted for over a year.[15] In 1994, she began to use a wheelchair, which she has used on and off since.[1]

Brownworth has also had breast cancer, has a damaged heart, and "a spot on [her] lung."[1]

Brownworth lives in Philadelphia. She and her partner, Maddy Gold,[16] met while attending the Philadelphia High School for Girls and dated off and on for years.[17] Brownworth and Gold had been living together for many years when in 2014 Pennsylvania deemed the ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, and Brownworth immediately proposed.[17] They were married in October of that year on their 15-year anniversary.[17] Gold died of cancer on November 12, 2022.[18] After Gold's death, Brownworth was harassed by anti-vaccine activists following the release of Died Suddenly, an anti-vaccine film.[19][20]

Awards

[edit]
Awards and honors for Brownworth's writing
Year Title Award/Honor Result Ref.
1980s Gay & Lesbian Press Association's Award for Ongoing Coverage of Non-Medical Issues [21]
Gay & Lesbian Press Association's Award for Ongoing Coverage Health Coverage [21]
Gay & Lesbian Press Association's Award for National News Reporting [21]
1997 Night Bites Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction Anthology Finalist [22]
2000 Night Shade: Gothic Tales by Women Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy Finalist [23]
2001 Coming Out of Cancer Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction Anthology Finalist [24]
2007 "Our Dirtiest Secret: Domestic Violence in Our Community" Suburban Newspaper Association's Award for Investigative Reporting Winner [21]
2008 The Golden Age of Lesbian Erotica Lambda Literary Award for Erotica Finalist [25]
"Killing Ourselves with Hate: Suicide in the GLBT Community" NLGJA Excellence in News Writing Award Second [26]
2009 "Hiding in Plain Sight" Society of Professional Journalists's Award for Enterprise Story Winner [21]
2011 Day of the Dead American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Project Selection [27]
2012 From Where We Sit Moonbeam Award for Young Adult Fiction - Historical/Cultural Silver [28]
2014 "Trans Sex Workers" Keystone Press Award for Series Second [21]
Society of Professional Journalists's Award for Enterprise Reporting Winner [21]
2016 Ordinary Mayhem Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery Winner [4][5]
2020 "COVID and the LGBTQ community" Sigma Delta Chi Award for Newspaper Feature Reporting in a Non-Daily Publication Winner [14]

Publications

[edit]

Anthology contributions

[edit]
  • Women of Mystery: An Anthology (2006)
  • Fantasy: Untrue Stories of Lesbian Passion (2007)
  • Wild Nights: (Mostly) True Stories of Women Loving Women (2007)
  • Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (2011)
  • Women of the Mean Streets (2011)
  • Night Shadows: Queer Horror (2012)

Anthologies edited

[edit]
  • Out for Blood (1995)
  • Night Bites: Vampire Stories by Women Tales of Blood and Lust (1996)
  • Out for More Blood (1996)
  • Night Shade: Gothic Tales by Women, with Judith M. Redding (1999)
  • Restricted Access: Lesbians on Disability (1999)
  • Coming Out of Cancer: Writings from the Lesbian Cancer Epidemic (2000)
  • Bed: New Lesbian Erotica (2007)
  • The Golden Age of Lesbian Erotica: 1920-1940, with Judith M. Redding (2007)
  • From Where We Sit: Black Writers Write Black Youth (2011)
  • Ordinary Mayhem (2015)

Books written

[edit]
  • Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors, with Judith M. Redding (1997)
  • Day of the Dead (2009)
  • Ordinary Mayhem (2015)
  • Erasure (2017)
  • Sleep So Deep (2017)

Essay collections

[edit]
  • Too Queer: Essays from a Radical Life (1996)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (February 18, 2011). "Victoria Brownworth: The Activist Writer". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Brownworth, Victoria (February 22, 2015). "Dancing with Audre Lorde: A Lesbian Memory". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Nahmod, David-Elijah (October 5, 2011). "BOOKS: Tiny Satchel Press gives LGBT youth of color a voice". Windy City Times. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Johns, Merryn (July 5, 2016). "2016 LAMMYS A Huge Success". CURVE. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "28th Annual Lammy Award Winners Announced". Lambda Literary. June 7, 2016. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  6. ^ "Victoria Brownworth". Twitter. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  7. ^ Brownworth, Victoria (March 29, 2012). "In Remembrance: Adrienne Rich". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  8. ^ Brownworth, Victoria A. (April 6, 2021). "A reporter looks back". Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  9. ^ Brownworth, Victoria A. (September 29, 2021). "Capturing History". VictoriaBrownworth. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  10. ^ Cohen, Paige (March 31, 2015). "Victoria A. Brownworth on Her New Novel 'Ordinary Mayhem'". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  11. ^ Doan-Minh, Sarah (Winter 2019). "Corrective Rape: An Extreme Manifestation of Discrimination and the State's Complicity in Sexual Violence". Hastings Women's Law Journal. 30 (1): 167–197.
  12. ^ a b Brownworth, Victoria A. (July 5, 2020). "Victoria A Brownworth". CURVE. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  13. ^ "Victoria A. Brownworth". Advocate. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  14. ^ a b "Sigma Delta Chi Awards". Society of Professional Journalists. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c Brownworth, Victoria A. (October 11, 2013). "Coming Out As...Disabled". Advocate. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  16. ^ "Victoria A. Brownworth". Goodreads. Archived from the original on September 19, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c Brownworth, Victoria A. (May 21, 2014). "Op-ed: My Big Long-Awaited Lesbian Wedding". Pride. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  18. ^ "Madelaine "Maddy" Gold—11/12/2022". November 14, 2022. Archived from the original on September 19, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  19. ^ Schraer, Rachel (November 23, 2022). "They died suddenly - then the anti-vax trolling started". BBC News. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  20. ^ Morrish, Lydia (January 16, 2023). "Twitter Is a Megaphone for 'Sudden Death' Vaccine Conspiracies". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g "243 awards and counting ..." Philadelphia Gay News. April 6, 2016. Archived from the original on September 19, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  22. ^ Antonio, Gonzalez Cerna (July 15, 1997). "9th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  23. ^ Cerna, Antonio Gonzalez (July 15, 2000). "12th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary Foundation. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  24. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (July 10, 2001). "13th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  25. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (April 30, 2007). "20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on January 20, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  26. ^ "2008 Excellence in Journalism Award Winners". NLGJA. Archived from the original on September 19, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  27. ^ "Day of the Dead | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  28. ^ "2012 Winners" (PDF). Moonbeam Awards. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 19, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
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