Sir Richard Branson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have triumphed as winners at the star-studded 2018 NatWest British LGBT Awards. Hosted by Spice Girls star Mel B and Blue’s Duncan James, the event recognised the best British and international gay talent, and the straight people who support them in helping to advance the rights of the LGBT+ community. Other winners included Great British Bake Off hosts past and present Sue Perkins and Sandi Toksvig, comedian John Bishop and transgender actress Laverne Cox.

Virgin boss Sir Richard, praised for having a diverse employment policy and for his backing of same-sex marriage, was honoured for his lifelong support for the LGBT+ community. In a pre-recorded acceptance speech, he said: “In places like Africa and the Far East, the battle’s far from won.

“I was recently in Uganda, where gay people are put into prison for life. The important thing is that we all now turn our attention to countries that are prosecuting and imprisoning gay people – and even executing gay people.”

Mr Trudeau claimed the media moment of the year prize for his formal apology to the LGBT community over Canada’s decades-long campaign against gay civil servants or those in the military. “In Canada and around the world, pride in who we are, how we identify and who we love makes us strong,” Mr Trudeau said in a message.

“Our diversity grows stronger communities and pushes us towards a stronger future for everyone. Every one of us should be proud of who we are and have the chance to achieve our highest potential.” Read more via Irish Examiner

British LGBT Awards CEO: “I fear society hasn’t progressed to be as tolerant as we thought”

Gay Times spoke to British LGBT Awards co-founder and CEO, Sarah Garrett, about why the ceremony is so important, why visible role models are vital, and the challenges LGBTQ people still face today.

Why are the NatWest British LGBT Awards so important?
The awards began as a celebration of the great achievements that have been made within the LGBTQ community with just a few hundred people. But we felt like the great stories we were hearing weren’t getting out past those few hundred people. We’ve worked pretty hard to make sure the whole community feels part of this awards, from nominations and voting, through to celebrating with us via a livestream. We are proud that we now have the largest media reach of any awards event of this kind outside the USA, and we want to continue to make sure that those doing great work are visible, not just to the LGBTQ community but to the whole of society – that’s how we are going to achieve real change.

How do you ensure there is diversity among the nominees?
We know that intersectionality is a big issue and that some parts of the LGBTQ population are more reluctant to put themselves forward. Two years ago, after having less that 10% female nominations on the corporate categories, we launched LBWomen to raise visibility of lesbian and bi females with a workplace survey. We’re pleased to say that this has resulted in increased female nominations for two years running, with women making up nearly half of the Top 10 shortlist this year. Three quarters of the British LGBT Awards staff are LGBTQ and BAME, so we are very aware that ethnic diversity is an issue across the community. In 2017 we held a couple of round tables around ethnicity to try and work out the root of the problem. Although we feel we have better representation in the Top 10 shortlist this year, we know that it’s still an area that needs a lot of work.

What message do you hope to send out with this awards show?
I feel that although we have built a great platform with over 50,000 voters and a media reach of 87 million, there is still so much more to do. I struggle with the fact that since Brexit and Trump there has been such a large increase in hate crime and I fear that society hasn’t progressed to be as tolerant as we thought it was. I think the awards can send out a clear message that we can all stand up and talk out, no matter who we are or what we do. The true power in our community is when we come together to drive change, that, for me, is where our spectrum of LGBTQ people are unique. Read more via Gay Times