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First LGBTI awards mark ‘historic year’ for equality in Scotland

Top politicians among those in the Scottish LGBTI Awards’ shortlist.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie witness the first same sex marriage just after midnight in Glasgow, on December 31, 2014
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie witness the first same sex marriage just after midnight in Glasgow, on December 31, 2014

The first Scottish LGBTI Awards will take place at Glasgow’s iconic Grand Central Hotel on Thursday, September 10 2015, to mark what organisers are calling an ‘historic year’ for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights in Scotland.

The Awards are being organised by the Equality Network, Scotland’s national LGBTI equality and human rights charity, to recognise and celebrate the campaigners, politicians, journalists, public bodies, businesses, community groups and individuals that have made a contribution towards securing greater equality in the past year.

The inaugural event which will be hosted by one of Scotland’s best-loved comedians, openly-gay Karen Dunbar, comes on the 35th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1980, 20 years after Scotland’s first Pride March and 15 years after the furore over the repeal of Section 28 during the first term of the Scottish Parliament. It will also mark the first year of equal marriage in Scotland, after the country became the 17th in the world to pass same-sex marriage legislation in February last year.

The glittering red-carpet awards ceremony will be attended by 350 LGBTI people and equality supporters from across Scotland, including leading politicians, businesses and celebrities as well as dedicated activists.

Michelle McManus
Michelle McManus

Well-known LGBTI equality supporters including Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus, lesbian singer-songwriter Horse McDonald, and West of Scotland celebrities Robert and May Miller will be among acts providing entertainment on the night.

The Equality Network, who launched a major new report earlier this week revealing that LGBTI people still face widespread prejudice and discrimination in Scotland, say that they hope the event will provide an opportunity to recognise the significant advances made in recent years, while also encouraging further efforts for equality in the future.

To read a copy of the report, click here:

The charity has received hundreds of public nominations for the 15 award categories, some of which will be decided by public vote while others will be decided by an independent judging panel.

Among the most competitive of the categories will be the prestigious ‘Politician of the Year’ award whose nominees include First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson, Green Party leader Patrick Harvie, Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie, Labour’s Margaret McCulloch, and the SNP’s Alex Neil, who led on Scotland’s same-sex marriage legislation.

Lorraine Kelly
Lorraine Kelly

Queen of daytime TV, Lorraine Kelly, is nominated for the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award in recognition of her efforts to raise awareness of transgender equality through several high-profile interviews with trans activists, and because of her longstanding support for LGBTI equality, including during the equal marriage campaign in Scotland. Speaking this week Lorraine Kelly said she was “very honoured and delighted to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award”. She will be up against former Scotland on Sunday Deputy Editor Kenny Farquharson, a long-standing ally of LGBTI equality, STV’s openly-gay reporter Alan Jenkins, and Katherine O’Donnell, the openly-transgender Night Editor of The Times, among others.

STV News, BBC Reporting Scotland, and charity sector newspaper Third Force News are up for the ‘Media Outlet of the Year’ award alongside LGBTI-specific outlets Kaleidoscot, Scotsgay, and Gaia Magazine.

Public bodies including the Scottish Prison Service, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the Judicial Institute of Scotland, and the Scottish Government’s One Scotland campaign are among those shortlisted for the ‘Public Body Initiative of the Year’, for their efforts promoting equality. While major organisations including Barclays, RBS, and the Gay Police Association are among those shortlisted for ‘Staff Network of the Year’ for their work advancing equality in the workplace.

John Barrowman
John Barrowman

The shortlist for ‘Event of the Year’ will include the Commonwealth Games, whose televised opening ceremony saw openly gay actor John Barrowman kiss a male dancer in what was widely seen as sending a message to the 41 Commonwealth countries that still criminalise homosexuality. The Games will compete for the award alongside Scotland’s two main gay pride events, Pride Glasgow and Pride Edinburgh, and the milestone event that was the passage of Scotland’s same-sex marriage legislation.

The ‘Student Group of the Year’ award shortlist includes three of Scotland’s ancient universities, Glasgow, Edinburgh and St. Andrews, among others, while nominees for the Culture Award will include Scotland’s only LGBTI arts festival, Glasgay!, the LGBTI history project Our Story Scotland, and the respected openly transgender playwright Jo Clifford, who will perform her acclaimed play ‘The Gospel According to Jesus Queen of Heaven’ at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Recognition will also be given to youth groups, sports groups, venues, community groups, charities, volunteers and dedicated LGBTI campaigners from across the country, from Shetland to Ayr.

Two special awards, chosen by the Equality Network, will also be presented on the night, including a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award and a ‘Friend for Life’ award which will recognise some of those activists and supporters that have made a particularly significant contribution towards LGBTI equality in Scotland.

The event is being sponsored by UNISON Scotland and Humanist Society Scotland. It will include a celebratory champagne reception, a three-course dinner, entertainment, and a fundraising auction. All money raised will go towards the Equality Network’s campaigns for LGBTI equality.

Scott Cuthbertson
Scott Cuthbertson

 Scott Cuthbertson, Development Coordinator for the Equality Network, said: “This has been an historic year for equality in Scotland and the Scottish LGBTI Awards will provide an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the important advances we have made, and the inspiring work of those that make a positive difference to the lives of LGBTI people. We know that there is still much more to do before LGBTI people will have full equality in their day-to-day lives so we hope that the recognition these awards provide will encourage further progress in the future.”

Karen Dunbar
Karen Dunbar

Karen Dunbar, who will host the awards, added: “I’m chuffed to bits and really looking forward to hosting the first ever Equality Network Scottish LGBTI Awards. It’s vital that we celebrate the people who have made a difference to the lives of LGBTI people here in Scotland, and great that the event will support the work of the Equality Network, Scotland’s National LGBTI Equality Charity!”

To purchase tickets for the event costing £45 (£400 for table of 10): click here:


The Scottish LGBTI Awards – shortlisted nominees:

Politician of the Year

Ruth Davidson MSP

Patrick Harvie MSP

Margaret McCulloch MSP

Alex Neil MSP

Willie Rennie MSP

Nicola Sturgeon MSP


Journalist of the Year

Stuart Duffy

Kenny Farquarson

Alan Jenkins

Lorraine Kelly

Katherine O’Donnell

Jonny Stone


Media Outlet of the Year

BBC Reporting Scotland

Gaia Magazine

Kaleidoscot

Scotsgay

STV News

Third Force News


Event of the Year

The Commonwealth Games

The legalisation of same-sex marriage

LGBT Youth Scotland – The National Youth Summit

Pride Edinburgh

Pride Glasgow

STUC LGBT Workers Conference


Public Body Initiative of the Year

Judicial Institute of Scotland – Development of transgender inclusive training and review of Equal Treatment Bench Book

National Gender Identity Clinical Network for Scotland – foundation of new body to coordinate gender reassignment activity in Scotland

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – Development of LGBT inclusive new training for GG&C staff

Scottish Government – One Scotland Campaign

Scottish Prison Service – New inclusive policies around transgender prisoners and development of training DVD for Staff

Travel & International Team NHS National Services Scotland – First government funded online resource aimed specifically at keeping LGBT travellers safe abroad.


Staff Network of the Year

Balfour Beatty LGBT Network

Barclays Spectrum LGBT Colleague Network

Gay Police Association Scotland Group

RBS Rainbow Network

SWAN LGBT Scottish Workplace Networking

University of Aberdeen Staff LGBT Network Group


Student Group of the Year

BLOGS (University of Edinburgh)

Dundee & Angus College

Glasgow University LGBTQ+

Saints LGBT (University of St Andrews)

SAUWS LGBT+ Society (University West of Scotland)

Vale of Leven Academy LGBT Committee


The Culture Award

Jo Clifford

The Glasgay! Festival

Horse

LGBT History Month Scotland

Loud & Proud Choir

Our Story Scotland


Equality Initiative of the Year

Ayrshire College SU & Ayrshire College – #JoinTheConversation

The Ayrshire LGBT Development Group – Engaging LGBT people across Ayrshire

LGBT Health & Wellbeing – Age Capacity Building Project

LGBT Youth Scotland – The Schools Charter

Scottish Refugee Council & LGBTI Partners – Information campaign for LGBTI Asylum Seekers

Scout Scotland – Working to include LGBT in the Scouts in face of US ban


Community Group of the Year

Ayrshire LGBTQ

Bi & Beyond

Highland LGBT Forum

Grampian T Folk

Shetland LGBT

TransParentSees


Youth Group of the Year

Beyond Gender

Fusion LGBT Youth Group Clydebank

The Glitter Cannons & West Lothian LGBT Youth Forum

The LGBT Inclusion Alliance

Open Ayrshire

Sexual Health and Relationships Youth Team SHRYT


The Diversity Award

Asifa Siraj

BiCon UK

Dive Queer Party

The Glitch Film Festival

LGBT Health and Wellbeing

LGBT Unity Scotland


The Sports Award

Auld Reekie Roller Girls

Glasgow Front Runners

LGBT Youth Scotland – TRANSport residential

Pride House (Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games)

Saltire Thistle

United Glasgow Football Club


Venue of the Year

Café Habana, Edinburgh

Cheerz Bar, Aberdeen

The Flying Duck, Glasgow

Mareel, Lerwick

Rusty Nail, Ayr

The Waterloo Bar, Glasgow


Outstanding Campaigner Award

Katherine Burrows

Alex Gardner

John Naples-Campbell

Alastair Smith

Mridul Wadhwa

Dr Matthew Waites


Lifetime Achievement Award

(TBA)


Friend for Life

(TBA)

 

Why Greece needs you now, more than ever

I write this to you from the island of Crete, where the beaches are two-thirds empty, the hotels less than half full and some restaurants all but deserted.

Crete

For us, it’s a July holiday paradise. Turn up at any beach, any time of day and have your pick of the best spot, visit local points of interest and there’s no need to blink up through the mists of lost sleep at the crack of dawn to avoid the crowds – there aren’t any. And yet (of course) the people are as welcoming as ever, if not more so and the landscapes unchanged at strikingly beautiful.

But the British are turning their backs and Greek people are worried. They could be angry but they’re not.

The people we have spoken to have expressed their disappointment at the British media (British newspapers are for sale at every supermarket):

♦  GREEK SUPERMARKETS ARE RUNNING OUT OF FOOD! It isn’t true.

♦  MEDICATION IN SHORT SUPPLY AS PHARMACIES RUN DRY! It isn’t true.

♦  AIRLINES TO GO UNDER AS FUEL RUNS OUT. It isn’t true.

♦ GREEK AUTHORITIES TAKING SPARE EUROS FROM BRITS LEAVING GREECE! A skill our tabloid journalists have always excelled in, the appalling lie.

It has to be said, I am many miles away from a troubled Athens, with hundreds of islands scattered across the Aegean between us, but here in Crete, the beaches are beautiful, the food fresh and plentiful, the wine inexpensive and the hospitality of the Greek people warm, welcoming and considering their recent history, frankly as inspiring a community you are not likely to meet anywhere else.

Today the banks reopen, and although there remains a restriction for the Greek population in accessing their own hard-earned money and personal life savings, we have yet to see a cash machine queue or one without money in it, and we have been able to access our own money freely. Sewing hundreds of Euros into the lining of the swimming trunks was a wasted week back in Blighty. Again – NO ACCESS TO CASH FOR TOURISTS; it isn’t true.

And it’s not just Crete, I hear from friends in Skiathos and Mykonos similar tales without woe. For tourists, you will notice little change. Of course, some restaurants won’t take a credit card, the Greek people cannot access their own cash beyond a rationed daily limit and their only way to pay their suppliers is through the money we give them, this is now a cash based society, and you know what? Good. We’ve become so locked into our new payment systems at home, that we fail to see the hideous social divorce wrapped up in one word contactless. What a shameful aspiration to have welcomed into our lives, to be without contact.

The Greek’s need more contact, not less, and it is we that can give it. Of course from our protected islands of new Conservatism we can bemoan the silliness of a ‘No’ vote in the recent referendum but the Greeks are a proud nation and ask yourself this, do you not have the opportunity to celebrate your own pride in who you are and who you have the free right to become?

Have you not spent years campaigning, or watching from the sidelines those who do fight for the human freedoms from the autocratic superstate who has spent your life informing you that you are a second class citizen? Given the opportunity, I too would have voted no. And whatever else you may think, or wherever your own political affiliations lie, the Greek people did not ask to be part of the European superstate the single currency has become, nor did they cause the world-wide economic troubles that affected us all. Is it fair then that they appear to be paying the greatest price?

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Greek’s and gays have always got along, some islands almost exclusively attracting the gay traveller, I believe Skiathos now even offers Mamma Mia themed boat excursions if you can bear such Piers Brosnan influenced awfulness. Or, be adventurous, ignore the opening bars of Chquitita (it is after all Spanish) and go somewhere else and give a little back.  And so if you’re considering a late August or early September sojourn into the sunshine, go Greek. And if you’re staycationing this year, ask your local shop to stock Mythos beer and buy real feta, not that ‘Greek-style’ nonsense.

I’m leaving Crete tomorrow for the island of Karpathos, I shall take my Greek taxi to the Greek bus and fly out on a Greek airline to spend another week eating Greek food and drinking Greek wine in the company of the Greek people. They deserve our attention, yours too.

Easy Jet and British Airways fly direct to Crete from London Gatwick.

Cosmos (part of the Monarch group), Thompsons Holidays,  Olympic holidays and Thomas Cook all have last-minute deals in all island locations, available online.

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Champion weightlifter honoured

World champion powerlifter, Chris Morgan inducted to the National Gay & Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.

Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan

The ceremony took place on Friday, July 24 at the Centre on Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois.

Chris an eight-times world champion powerlifter is active in Europe’s campaign against homophobia in soccer, and made first appearance at Gay Games V in Amsterdam.

He has been a loyal and active global Ambassador for the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) for many years.

The Chicago based National Gay & Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame, was established in 2013 to honor individuals and organisations whose achievements and efforts have enhanced the fields of sports and athletics for the LGBT community.

In addition, the Hall of Fame preserves the history of LGBT individuals who have impacted professional and amateur sports and provided outreach and education to the sporting world so that LGBT youth all across the nation feel welcome and safe to participate in any and all athletic related activities.

To see a full list of Inductees and bios, click here:

The list of 2015 inductees include:

Kye Allums, an activist and the first out transgender Division I basketball player.

Megan Rapinoe, an American pro soccer player, Olympic gold medalist, and 2015 World Cup champion who came out as lesbian.

Roy Simmons, a former pro football player who came out as gay after he retired and who died in 2014.

Helen Hull Jacobs,  a top-ranked tennis player who won 10 Grand Slam titles and was known to be a lesbian. She died in 1997.

Dale Scott, the first out active Major League Baseball umpire

Among the Class of 2015 are several with a strong connection to the international Gay Games movement…

Roger Brigham, the Federation of Gay Games Honorary Life Member who was the first openly gay sports editor at a major metropolitan daily, the Anchorage Daily News, in 1982. He also the founded the Equality Coaching Alliance (now with more than 200 members). He’s also the author of the Bay Area Reporter.‘s “Jock Talk” sports column.

Gene Dermody, who is a rare veteran of every one of the Gay Games. He is the pioneer of LGBT wrestling and has served the FGG in many capacities, including President and Technology Officer. He is an FGG Honorary Life Member and in 2014 received the FGG’s highest honor: the Tom Waddell Award.

Robbie Rogers who is a professional soccer/football player who is one of the only male professional athletes active on a team sport while being openly gay. He famously appeared in a video with NBA star Jason Collins shown at the Opening Ceremony of 2014’s Gay Games 9 in Cleveland.”

The next Gay Games are scheduled to take place in Paris in 2018.

For more information about the Paris Games, click here:

For more information about the Gay Games, click here:

Pride dog show cancelled

The popular Pride Dog Show due to take place this afternoon, Sunday, July 26 at Hove Rugby Club, has been cancelled.

Pride Dog Show 2014
Pride Dog Show 2014

Following an improvement in the weather yesterday organisers had hoped it might be possible for the event to proceed, but with the deterioration of weather conditions overnight a decision was made this morning to cancel the event on safety grounds.

A spokesperson for Pride said: “Regretfully due to todays weather conditions and the expected long periods of rain and wind all day, the Dog Show has been cancelled this year. Our partners Coastway Vets had concerns over safety and have been given no other choice but to pull the event.

If it is not possible to reschedule the event for later in the summer, stall holders will be either refunded or offered the opportunity to donate their entry fee to the Rainbow Fund. Entries will be refunded after the Pride festival and will take of couple of weeks to administrate, so please be patient. Our apologies for any disappointment, but this was out of our control due to the extreme weather conditions. Watch this space for rescheduled date!”

The Rainbow Fund make grants to LGBT/HIV organisations in Brighton and Hove providing effective front line services to the LGBT communities in the city.

Final Pride Ambassador for 2015 revealed

Danny Eade is the final Pride Ambassador for 2015 and will join David Raven, Alice Denny and Aneesa Chaudhry representing their respective communities at the front of the Pride Parade on August 1.

Danny Eades

Danny also known as Danny Gogo became a YouTube sensation after appearing in the sixth series of BBC3’s  ‘Snog Marry Avoid’.

Danny has more than 70,000 twitter followers, but despite his pink hair and various outrageous personas has a very serious side to his character.

Having been bullied himself at school he has not been afraid to speak out against bullies not only in the straight community but also within the various gay communities who are too often very quick to attack other gay people who look and behave different to themselves

Danny said: “What an honour to be chosen as a Pride Ambassador I will work very hard and take every opportunity to highlight the issues surrounding the bullying of young people in school and on the scene.”

Danny received the most nominations in the July voting round.

Danny Eade

 

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