Sheela Lambert

Sheela Lambert (born 1956 in New York City) is an American writer and noted bisexual activist. She is the founder of the Bi Writers Association and the Bi Mental Health Professionals Association, the organizer of the Bisexual Speakers Bureau of the New York City Area, a co-founder of the Bi Women of All Colors group and a senior organizer with the New York Area Bisexual Network and Bialogue. She is also the curator and host of the Out Professionals LGBT Filmmaker Series at the LGBT Center in Manhattan.

Since 1991, Lambert has been a public speaker on the topic of bisexuality, presenting programs at colleges, universities, high schools, community organizations and in-service trainings for counselors, psychotherapists, New York City Board of Education high school guidance counselors and their supervisors and other professionals. Topics include: Understanding Bisexuality, Famous Bisexuals in History, Border Crossings, Activist Toolkit and Marriage Discrimination: Impact on the Bi Community.

Lambert has been interviewed on many local and national TV talk shows, including Real Personal With Bob Berkowitz (CNBC), The Rolonda Show (syndicated), The Richard Bey Show (WWOR-TV) and others. As well, Lambert has often been quoted in print and online media — including The Washington Blade, The New York Blade and Time Out New York — on issues related to bisexuality.

Lambert's work for bisexual rights

1990's

• Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Sharing Our Lives: A Forum on Bisexuality, held May 1992. The forum was co-sponsored by the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center (now the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center), New York Area Bisexual Network and BiPAC.

• During the 1992-93 television season, Lambert was the on-air correspondent and producer of Out in the 90’s, a live New York City public access cable TV news and information show for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Out in the 90's was also distributed to several other major U.S. cities. Among the subjects of Lambert's interviews were LGBT's in the military, queer high school students, LGBT parents, LGBT firefighters and other public safety personnel.

• In 1993, Lambert was the executive producer/host for Bisexual Network, the first television series by and for the bisexual community. The series aired for one season on New York City's public-access television.

• Lambert produced a bisexual health care report for the New York City Department of Health in 1993, examining barriers to service for bisexual people accessing health and mental health services.

• She was the bisexual member of the Educational Coalition on Lesbian and Gay Youth (ECoLaGY), 1992-94.

• She fought to save the Children of the Rainbow curriculum in New York City's Public Schools. (1992-93)

• Lambert ran a Women's Safer Sex Workshop series, for bisexual women and lesbians, that ran almost three years, from March 1992 through December 1995. The Workshops were co-sponsored by New York Area Bisexual Network; N.Y.C. Department of Health, Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns, Lesbian Health Project; Gay Men's Health Crisis' Lesbian Health Project (LAP); Community Health Project (CHP, now the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center) Lesbian Health Program.

• In January of 1993, Lambert ran a workshop — Sexual Orientation: Experience, Identity and Fantasy — with Fritz Klein at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in Manhattan.

• Friends, Allies, Community Members, Lovers, Bisexuals: A Part of Our Community, a program of song and poetry performance and panel and group discussion, was held in October 1993. This program was co-sponsored by the Mayor's Office for the Lesbian and Gay Community, BiPAC and Bisexual Women of Color.

• In 1994, Lambert protested the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO)'s exclusion from the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. She was arrested with 102 other protesters including Christine Quinn and Tom Duane. In 1998, Lambert was one of only 11 people that chose to go to trial in order to make a public on-the-record statement on the unfairness of excluding LGBT Irish people from the Parade.

• In 1996, Lambert joined Heritage of Pride, in which she was an active Gay and Lesbian Pride organizer for two years to promote the bi-inclusive agenda as a member. In 2002 Heritage of Pride renamed New York City's Lesbian and Gay Pride events to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, Rally, Festival and Dance.

• From 1998 to 2000, Lambert was a member of the LGBT Advisory Board for C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan Borough President.

2000's

• Community, Inclusion, Unity: The Fourth Tri-State Bisexual Conference held at New York University, October 2000. Keynote speakers Dr. Eliyahou Farajaje-Jones (now Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé), Fritz Klein and Deb Kolodny. The conference was co-sponsored by BiNet USA, New York Area Bisexual Network, Pride Month at NYU, Office of LGBT Student Services at NYU, BiZone and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center.

• Together with transgender activist Pauline Park, Lambert formed the Coalition for Unity and Inclusion in 2000. The Coalition has successfully lobbied many LGBT-related institutions to make their names more inclusive. Some organizations include New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center (formerly the NYC Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center) and the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Film Festival (formerly the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival).

• In 2005 in response to the misinformation put out by the academically disputed Bailey Study, Lambert worked as a senior member of a joint Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)/Bialogue task force that began to create information packets to provides facts about bisexuality, dispel myths and stereotypes, and educate the public about issues bisexuals face, as well as provides guidelines for various professionals.

Response to Bisexual Erasure

Lambert has helped in the response to Ruth "Dr. Ruth" Westheimer and Dr. Joy Browne’s recent public incidents (and discovered long-term history) of bisexual erasure:

In October of 2005, Dr. Ruth made statements in her nationally syndicated advice column that "everyone is either straight or gay" and there "is no such thing as being bisexual."

In November, 2005, Dr. Joy Browne (on her nationally syndicated radio show and Discovery Health Channel TV show) told a young woman confused by her attractions to women and men that she must decide: "Am I gay or am I straight?" because "saying that 'I’m bisexual' just means 'Do me!' That 'I don’t care who does me as long as some body…'"

Working together with BiNet USA, Bisexual Resource Center (BRC) and GLAAD, Lambert led the letter-writing campaigns for Dr. Ruth and Dr. Joy Browne and designed a packet of books and educational materials on bisexuality, specially targeted to their mental health and psychology research-oriented backgrounds (paid for and forwarded by GLAAD).

Westheimer's and Browne's respective syndicated columns and TV shows have been monitored closely since the beginning of each campaign. No further incidences of bisexual erasure have been observed since they were contacted.

The Bialogue/GLAAD Bisexuality Packet for Mental Health Professionals is now available online on Bialogue’s website. It is designed as a series of documents that can be printed, copied and distributed as handouts for workshops, trainings and classes or viewed online. Additional packets for teachers, media and health providers are in development.

Ongoing projects

Lambert is currently working on:

• a National Media Education Campaign on Bisexuality, designed to increase bi visibility, inclusion and accuracy of reporting in both the gay and mainstream press.
• She formed the Bi Writers Association in March of 2006.
• Since August, 2006, she has been the programmer and host of the Out Professionals LGBT Filmmaker Series, a program at the LGBT Center designed to highlight LGBT filmmakers and their films in a more intimate and informative setting than the usual theater experience. Following a screening of the film, as program host Lambert interviews the filmmakers and moderates audience Q&A.
• She is the organizer of Bi Lines: A Celebration of Bisexual Writing in Reading, Music and Culture, scheduled for 1 June 2007, co-sponsored by the LGBT Community Center, Lambda Literary Foundation, the Bi Writers Association and BiNet USA.

Personal

Family

Lambert has a son and is a long-time resident of New York City.

She was married from 1982 to 1994, though separated from her husband beginning in 1984.

Education and Training

Lambert attended Beloit College. She received her B.S. degree in psychology from Empire State College in 1989 and is a graduate of a two-year Psychotherapy Training Program of the Hakomi Institute. She is a certified HIV Counselor in New York City and New York State.

She also received formal training in Family Therapy and Group Leadership Skills; studied Intensive Case Management at Hunter College; coursework in AIDS Training for Child Welfare Staff (Center for Development of Human Services of SUNY Buffalo and the New York State Department of Social Services); coursework in HIV Medical and Technical Information (Department of Health, Division of HIV Counseling and Testing, Training Unit).

Partial bibliography

Print

• The Pain Management Handbook: Guided Imagery and Relaxation for Pain Management and Stress Relief. Self-published, 1988.
• Bisexual Health Care Report. New York City Department of Health, 1993.
• Bisexuality Media Guide. Bi Writers Association (forthcoming)

Journals

• "Hakomi Therapy Supervision Verbatim." Hakomi Forum (professional journal of The Hakomi Institute), No. 7, Winter 1989.

Magazines

• Reviewed the film Running with Scissors, Go NYC Magazine, October 2006.
• Reviewed independent films The Gymnast, GYPO and Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing and interviewed film directors Linda Thornburg (Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing), Katherine Brooks (Loving Annabelle), Lesli Klainberg (Fabulous!) and the actress and producer Dreya Weber (The Gymnast) for Curve, October, November and December 2006 issues.

Newsletters

• "Notes from the Homefront: Bisexual Motherhood." Decidedly Bi, 1991.

As Editor

• Best Bi Short Stories (forthcoming literary fiction anthology)

Plays

• Lavender Heights, a one-act play performed at the 1994 International Conference Celebrating Bisexuality.

Online

• Bialogue/GLAAD Bisexuality Packet for Mental Health Professionals (2005)
• Interview with Ann Herendeen author of Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander in BiMagazine (2006) Accessed 7 April 2007.
• Interview with Fritz Klein in BiMagazine (2006) Accessed 7 April 2007.
• Profile of the singer-songwriter Rachael Sage. AfterEllen.com, 31 May 2006. Accessed 6 April 2007.
• Review of Looking for Cheyenne. AfterEllen.com, 19 June 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.
• Review of Electroshock. AfterEllen.com, June 2006.
• "Newfest Short Films Are Long on Talent." AfterEllen.com, 15 October 2006. Accessed 7 April 2007.
• Profile of Michael Musto. AfterElton.com, 8 January 2007. Accessed 6 April 2007.
• Interview with Rachel Kramer Bussel in BiMagazine (2007) Accessed 5 April 2007.

As Editor

• Famous Bisexuals in History List (available on the Bialogue blog)

Television

• Producer and correspondent, Out in the 90s (1992-93)
• Executive producer and host, Bisexual Network (1993)

See also

• Bialogue
• biphobia
• Bi Writers Association
• New York Area Bisexual Network

External links

• Bialogue
• Bi Writers Association
• The Hakomi Institute
• New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN)

Notes

This article is based on a GNU FDL LGBT Wikia article: Lambert Sheela Lambert

LGBT