She swears it was all spontaneous and ad-libbed, but she instigated one of the funniest moments of the night. Denise Penn, the celebrity bisexual presenter for the Bisexual Award at the 20th annual Lambda Literary Award came out after the first two awards had not only mixed up the slips of papers for the presenters to read, but they handed the wrong trophies out.

"And they say we're confused," she said in her characteristic low-key, but funny manner. The audience howled.

What was significant about that moment is that not only did it allow the GLT elite in the crowd to laugh with - not at - the "B," but also allowed them to acknowledge that we're part of it all, and that we can play off the alleged stereotypes that many of them foist upon the bisexuals among them. Essentially, we're nice folks and not going to bite.

Denise, as many people know, is on the board of the American Institute of Bisexuality, and she's a past President of BiNet USA and host of The Gay & Lesbian News Magazine in Long Beach. She's a longtime activist and journalist and has always carried the "B" on her sleeve, even when it doesn't always best serve her.

So, it was an honor to have her present the B award. Fellow journalist and activist Karen Ocamb produced the show, and she was among famous writers like Patricia Nell Warren, who wrote "The Front Runner," Anne Stockwell of The Advocate, Torie Osborn, Michelle Tea, Felice Picano, Alice Y. Hom and many others.

It was a funny night, too. Tim Miller the performance artist did his hysterical bit starting off as a gay sperm swimming toward an egg. The Gay Men's Chorus sang a number and the Gay Mafia came in as aliens from another planet who were kidnapping women to take back with them. Out actor Michael Corbett (from "Extra" and in Leonardo DiCaprio's "Romeo + Juliet") hosted the event and tried to keep it moving along.

And so, Denise wasn't supposed to be funny. She was supposed to just be as gorgeous as the photo in the Lambda program that was taken by her son, Jake. Her moment was one of the highlights of the evening.

Denise was one of the judges on the Bisexual nominating committee, and so was I. The book I co-authored with Nicole Kristal, "The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe: Tips, Quips and Lists for those Who Go Both Ways" was the first winner of the Bi category last year, and we were to sift through about two dozen others to pick a winner this year.

The task is daunting. It's especially daunting when you have to compare amazing diverse books like Jennifer Baumgardner's personal commentary "Look Both Ways" with Beth Firestein's well-researched studious book "Becoming Visible" with the East Coast bi novel "The Tourists" by Jeff Hobbs and the West Coast bi novel "Stray" by Sheri Joseph. There were bi werewolves, bi mothers, bi African-Americans, bi Latinos and many other books to consider in this treasure trove of literature.

The winner was as diverse as the entries in the category. It was Brent Hartinger, for the young adult book "Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies." The book tells the same events through the eyes of a 16-year-old gay boy, and then you can flip it over and the other side of the story is told by a 16-year-old bi girl. It's a beautifully written story showing queer youth today in a safe, non-prurient way.

Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies / Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies By Brett Hartinger (Harper Collins Children's Books) (click icon to purchase from Amazon.com)

Another significant moment for the Lambda Awards is that they're moving West. Director Charles Flowers moved to West Hollywood from Manhattan, and now they will call Los Angeles home. Christopher Rice is the new young face of the writing awards as the new president of the Lambda Board. He told Denise, Nicole and I personally that he looks forward to working with us more closely in the coming year.

And so, I waltzed into the Pacific Design Center wearing my stylish black T-shirt designed by a bi Toronto shirt-maker that says "bi" on it, and was rather in-your-face about it. But, it sparked conversations with others, and it was easy to brag about being the first honoree in a new bisexual category that was only added last year.

How great to be among the trail-blazing activists I've read about in books and newspapers. Malcolm Boyd, Lillian Faderman, Terry DeCrescenzo, Mark Thompson and Ann Bannon were all there. If you don't know their works, look them up and read.

It was nice to see that Denise got a big laugh and did it with the sense of self-deprecating humor that Nicole and I tried to portray in our book. It was nice to see that the usually politically-correct crowd could laugh along with us. And, it's nice to see that we have smart, intelligent and funny people like Denise among us.

But then, just as Denise was about to hand out the glass book award, she dropped it and it went crashing to the floor. It didn't break, or even crack, but it was another funny moment that Denise didn't intend.

And who said bisexuals can't be klutzes?

A full list of winners and nominees of the Lambda Literary Awards can be found at: lambdaliterary.org