Category talk:Pink List 2013: Difference between revisions

Credit must go to those 366 MPs who voted in May to make the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill law, including the Prime Minister. Several LGBT MPs and party officials played their part in this historic vote. Mike Freer, the Conservative MP for Margaret Thatcher’s old seat, Golders Green and East Finchley, made one of the more moving speeches in the debate.He said that he was proud of his civil partnership, but wanted to be married like other people: “Many argue that we should be content with our civil partnership – after all it affords all of the same legal protections as marriage – but I ask my married colleagues, did you get married for legal protections it afforded you?” He concluded: “I’m not asking for special treatment, I am simply asking for equal treatment.” Generally, though, the Pink List politicos got on with the business of being good or bad politicians without speaking out as gay representatives and thus helped to cement the normalisation and equalisation of gay people in public life. Sexual orientation played no part in last week’s reshuffle, for example. In the Government, Greg Barker, Nick Boles, Alan Duncan and David Laws were neither promoted nor sacked. Stephen Williams, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, became a minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government. On the Opposition side, Angela Eagle moved sideways from Transport to Food and Rural Affairs, but the demotion of Stephen Twigg from Education to Justice was reported mainly as a subplot in the “cull of the Blairites”. It was only Pink News that commented that he was “one of the country’s most senior gay politicians”. Another year of progress towards a point where the sexuality of public figures is not “news” – but we appreciate what they have done to get us this far, an honourable mention for our honourable friends: Margot James; Jonny Oates; Chris Bryant; Lord Black of Brentwood; Simon Hughes; Steve Reed; Julian Glover; Lord Smith of Finsbury; Michael Salter; Ben Bradshaw; Nigel Evans; Ruth Davidson; Baroness Barker and Lord Alli.

Pink List 2013: Ones to watch

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/pink-list-2013-ones-to-watch-8876334.html

Grace Petrie

Singer

Petrie has a voice that’s been compared to Laura Marling’s and Kate Nash’s, she describes her music as indie folk rock with “acoustic punk twist”. Some say her politically sharp lyrics make her the new Billy Bragg.

Stephen Clarke

CEO of W H Smith

In July this year, Clarke became one of the UK’s few openly gay chief executives of a major company when he was promoted to chief executive of W H Smith. What he does to make life easier for LGBT employees remains to be seen.

Sophie Green

Artist and illustrator

Five years ago Green moved to Liverpool, and saw her artistic career take off.

She has produced works for the London 2012 Olympics and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. She says her art is “light, bright … with a big spoonful of humour”.

Nicole Gibson

Model

The 5ft 11in trans model was the “unexpected star of London Fashion Week”, according to the Daily Mail. “They say you have not really made it as a model until you walk along the catwalk in a sheer dress with your nipples showing – and here I was doing it in my first show,” she told the paper.

Alicya Eyo

Actress

Currently playing Ruby Haswell in Emmerdale, Eyo made her name as Denny Blood in the acclaimed prison drama Bad Girls and has also appeared in Casualty and Silent Witness. She is a patron of LGBT Youth North West.

Sarah Garrett

Entrepreneur

Co-founder of Square Peg Media, which sponsored the Stonewall Awards. The firm produces g3 and Out in the City magazines. Together with Linda Riley, Garrett set up the Alternatives Families Show and the Big Gay Lifestyle Show.

Sarah Weir OBE

Executive

After overseeing the arts during London’s 2012 Olympics, Weir is believed to be about to take up an exciting new post. The former Stonewall trustee and founding patron of LGBT History Month has also worked as executive director at Arts Council England and the Almeida Theatre in London.

Jo Clifford

Playwright

The prolific, Edinburgh-based writer has penned about 80 plays and is also a performer and teacher. She describes herself as a “trans woman and father with two beautiful daughters”. “In love with life. Hoping the best, always,” she says on her Twitter profile.

Jessica Clark

Actress

Played the vampire goddess Lilith in the hit US show True Blood and also co-starred in Nicole Conn’s film A Perfect Ending. Clark studied law at the London School of Economics then switched to modelling and acting. Also the host of the weekly show Lesbian Love on AfterEllen.com.

Nigel Fletcher

Conservative councillor and businessman

When asked if he would like to advertise his company in the Daily Mail, Fletcher responded with an eloquent refusal that condemned the paper for causing “profound offence to gay people” for years. It went viral and turned Fletcher into a national star.

Harriet Wistrich

Lawyer

Represents eight women who entered into relationships with men not knowing they were undercover police officers spying on protest groups. Radical feminist and co-founder of Justice for Women. Also involved in the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize, Medical Justice and the Police Action Lawyers Group.

Harmony Boucher

Model, musician

Sings with the band Vuvuvultures, alongside her wife, Nicole B. Coelho, on bass. Clash magazine described them as a “vital, visceral collective” after a “blood-curdling performance” earlier this year.

Pink List 2013: Friends to LGBT people

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/pink-list-2013-friends-to-lgbt-people-8876326.html

Tilda Swinton

Actress

Swinton flew a rainbow flag in Red Square this year to support Russia’s beleaguered LGBT community and risked prosecution. “In solidarity. From Russia with love,” her spokesperson explained.

David Cameron

Prime Minister

Credited with pushing through The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill despite a rebellion by 136 Tory MPs. The first ceremonies are expected next summer.

Lynne Featherstone

Politician

The Lib Dem MP launched the consultation by the UK government on introducing equal marriage and was the first politician to take part in the Out4Marriage campaign.

Julie Hesmondhalgh

Actress

Hesmondhalgh stars as Hayley in Coronation Street and is patron of Trans Media Watch, Press for Change and Manchester’s Lesbian & Gay Foundation.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Musicians

Macklemore rapped on the Lewis-produced track “Same Love” (which hit No 6 in the UK singles chart): “Whatever god you believe in/ We come from the same one/ Strip away the fear, underneath, it’s all the same love.”

Simon Collins

Senior executive

The chairman of KPMG has won recognition for helping the gay partners at the firm come out without facing prejudice.

J H Williams and W Haden Blackman

Writers for DC Comics

They announced they were quitting their jobs, saying they had been asked to drop “long-standing story lines” about Batwoman, including her planned same-sex marriage.

Cher

Singer

The star has given vocal support of gay fans and her trans son Chaz Bono. She said Chaz’s decision had been difficult for her but added “we’ve actually had the most fun together lately than we’ve had in forever”.

Lisa Rodrigues

Health official

Under her watch as chief executive, the Sussex Partnership NHS mental health trust has risen to No 1 on Stonewall’s Health Equality Index for 2013.

Giles Fraser

Anglican priest

Founded the Inclusive Church group, which promotes the idea that the Church should “proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of sex, race or sexual orientation”.

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 [[Heather Peace]]
-Actress and musician
-A favourite of our readers (this year she was nominated 226 times, but all our judges have elected not to appear on the list) and TV viewers (Lip Service was BBC3’s most popular show) Peace finished filming series nine of Waterloo Road in May, before touring Australia and headlining Manchester Pride. She is a patron of Diversity Role Models, and the only person to appear twice in six months on the cover of Diva magazine.
 [[Christine Burns]]
-Strategic Equality and Inclusion Specialist
-A leading activist for transgender rights, Burns has been a patron of LGBT History Month; is the author of Making Equality Work; and a former vice-president of Press for Change. She was part a team who brought about legal protections against discrimination, the right to treatment on the NHS, and the Gender Recognition Act for trans people. She retired from frontline campaigning in 2007 and now blogs at blog.plain-sense.co.uk
 [[Kim Watson]]
-Media Director on GT, Diva and Meta print and digital magazines
-Watson has more than 20 years’ experience in LGBT community media. Diva & GT were shortlisted for media pioneer awards in 2011 for magazine apps, and the Pink Paper and Diva won a Net Observer excellence award for their news-based websites. She became a Fellow of the Institute of Direct  and Digital Marketing in 2013. Watson lives with her partner,  10-year-old daughter and two tom cats in east London.
 [[Ben Summerskill]]
-Chief executive of Stonewall
-Summerskill has led Stonewall, the organisation that was founded in 1989 to campaign against Section 28, since 2003. Since then he has led campaigns on the introduction of civil partnerships, protection against discrimination, and the creation of a new criminal offence of incitement to homophobic hatred. In 2011, the one-time gossip columnist was shortlisted as Britain’s most admired charity chief executive in the Third Sector Awards.
 ==Pink List 2013: National treasures==