David Watkins won this year’s Sheila McKechnie Foundation Social Inclusion Award for his campaign to inspire and support same-sex couples who want to hold hands in public, as a way of changing cultural perceptions of same-sex love.
 
Last week Mr Watkins went to 10 Downing Street  to meet the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown who thanked him for his work for the Social Inclusion award. At the awards ceremony Jon Snow (Channel 4 news) and Shami Chakrabarti ( Liberty ) presented the award to David.
 
Jon Snow, Patron of Sheila McKechnie Foundation said:
 “I am thrilled to be standing here in her (Sheila McKechnie’s) honour with these wonderful Sheila McKechnie Awards, and the sheer diversity of the people who have both been nominated and eventually won these awards is itself a testament to the kind of work that we remember her for.”
 
The next international Sshh! (Same-sex hand holding) Saturday will be on Saturday 31 October. On that day same-sex couples are encouraged to express their commitment to each other by publicly holding hands. They can email their photos to yourstories@adayinhand.com to show support for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights.
 
Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister joins the growing number of public figures and celebrities that have endorsed A Day In Hand through photoshoots and same-sex hand holding pictures. Others include 4 Poofs And A Piano, Brian Paddick and Boy George, author Paul Burston, MEP Michael Cashman, Mayor Boris Johnson and activists Peter Tatchell & Cleve Jones (Harvey Milk’s aide).
 
For more information view:
www.adayinhand.com