Kensington resident and Victoria University researcher Dr Caroline Symons has won this year's Australian Society for Sports History book award for her history of the Gay Games.
Dr Symons, a historian and sociologist who lectures in sports sociology and event management, said it was a great honour for her, and gay, lesbian, transgender and intersex communities
The historical analysis of the Games started out as Dr Symons's PhD thesis in 1996, but it continued to grow.
Dr Symons said she was "coming out" at the time she wrote her PhD thesis so the process of writing and publishing the book had been important personally.
"I've had tremendous feedback from participants and organisers of this event that celebrates the social aspects of GLBTI culture as well as sporting performance.
"One of my motives in writing the book was to acknowledge and celebrate the inclusiveness of the diverse queer community.
''Another objective was to raise awareness of gay and lesbian sport among mainstream readers."
Dr Symons led the first Australian study on homophobia in sport, Come Out To Play, which was sponsored by VicHealth and was last year endorsed by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
It found that despite recent improvements, there is still widespread homophobia in club sport. The report called for awareness programs for sporting codes and clubs to promote an inclusive and welcoming culture.
The citation for the award states that the Australian Society chose to honour the book because it was a "meticulously researched and sophisticated social history" that promoted the "centrality, as opposed to the marginality of gay, lesbian and transgendered people in global sport".
It continued: "The committee considers The Gay Games: A History an engaging narrative that reveals both the lived experiences and personal stories of individuals, groups and communities".
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