Stonewall discontinues ‘Bigot of the Year’ for 2014 awards
Leading gay rights charity Stonewall has dropped its ‘Bigot of the Year’ category for its 2014 Stonewall Awards ceremony.
The title has been given out since 2007, and has been given to a number of Catholic Bishops and a Daily Mail columnist . It was in 2013 given to US televangelist Pat Robertson, and in 2012 was given to Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
Recently appointed CEO Ruth Hunt has now announced that the award will be no more.
Richard Lane, a spokesman for Stonewall, said: “We survey our supporters every year as to what their priorities are.
“One of the comments was that they understood why we did the award, but they wanted it to be an evening celebrating positive contributions. We try to be as responsive as we can to what our supporters say and what they want, and a decision was taken to proceed on that basis.”
Pat Robertson beat four nominees for Bigot of the Year in 2013 including historian Professor Neil Ferguson; Reverend George Gabauer; leading ex-gay activist Scott Lively; and, UKIP Parliamentary candidate Winston McKenzie.
Stonewall in 2012 defended the “Bigot of the Year” award, saying no one would be nominated for the category simply for disagreeing with the charity, or with the LGBT community, after two banks threatened to pull their support from the awards ceremony.
