John Boyne says ‘perhaps there is no such thing as LGBTQ+’ amid Polari Prize controversy
John Boyne has suggested there is ‘no such thing as LGBTQ+’ (Getty)
John Boyne has suggested there is 'no such thing as LGBTQ+' (Getty)
Gay self-described ‘TERF’ author John Boyne has said “perhaps there is no such thing as LGBTQ+” after the 2025 Polari Prize was halted, following authors and judges withdrawing due to his inclusion.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne was included on the 2025 longlist of the 2025 Polari Prize – Britain’s leading prize for LGBTQ+ literature.
Boyne’s nomination for his novella Earth sparked a fierce backlash from fellow authors on the longlist, as well as several judges; in July, the author described himself as a “TERF” – a trans exclusionary radical feminist – in defence of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who is known for her strong and frequently-expressed opinions about trans rights.
Writing in a column for the Irish Independent, Boyne expressed support for Rowling, claiming that some “grown women” who publicly disagree with her are “astonishingly complicit in their own erasure” while comparing them to characters in The Handmaid’s Tale who are “ready to pin a handmaiden down as her husband rapes her.”
The Polari Prize has now been “paused“, organisers announced on Monday (18 August) in a statement, which Boyne responded to by saying that he did not withdraw out of principle to what he called the “Trumpian” mentality of his fellow nominees.
Now, Boyne has added in another statement on X that “perhaps there is no such thing as LGBTQ+” – the acronym that unifies Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer people into one community.
“Perhaps… there IS no such thing as LGBTQ+,” Boyne wrote. “There are just individual men & women, each one knowing who they’re attracted to & living their lives.”
Perhaps, @aidanctweets, you total fruitcake, there IS no such thing as LGBTQ+. There are just individual men & women, each one knowing who they're attracted to & living their lives.
— John Boyne Books (@JohnBoyneBooks) August 19, 2025
No wait, sorry, obviously a supposedly straight man understands the gay world better than me.🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/NFqzM4Ad5j
The post was in response to a statement from another X user who claimed the Polari Prize name had been “sullied”. The organisation’s self-described mission is to “celebrate the best in LGBTQ+ literature”.
“I couldn’t be party to that; it would have been the death of ideas, a loss brought about by the raging tantrums of people who, I suspect, have not read anything with more than 280 characters for many years,” Boyne said in his initial response to the prize being paused.
The Polari Prize has posted three separate statements on the controversy.
The first emphasised that the award was “founded on the core principles of diversity and inclusion.”
The second stated that the Polari Prize was “committed to going forward with the prize this year,” before a third and final, five days later, announcing the 2025 competition’s “pause“.
Boyne’s rejection of ‘LGBTQ+’ as an acronym follows a similar trend by organisations such as the LGB Alliance, who do not include the ‘T’, for the trans community, in their name.
Dr Avi Ben-Zeez previously told PinkNews that he was “heartbroken” by the decision to halt the awards as the only trans author to be included on the Polari Prize longlist this year.
“My memoir has now been ‘put on pause,’ which feels like another form of erasure,” he said.
Two judges, and authors such as Sacha Coward, Mae Diansangu, Jason Okundaye, Amy Twigg and Sanah Ahsan all withdrew their books from consideration after learning of Boyne’s inclusion.
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