Gay rights charity Stonewall is dropping its controversial “Bigot of the Year” award.
Since its inception in 2007 as part of an annual awards event, the unwelcome title has been handed to a number of Catholic bishops. Two years ago the title was given to Cardinal Keith O’Brien, for his fierce opposition to same-sex marriages.
Now Stonewall’s newly appointed chief executive, Ruth Hunt, herself a Catholic, has said that the accolade will not feature in this year’s awards ceremony next month at the Victoria and Albert Museum in west London.
The group’s spokesman, Richard Lane, said that feedback from its supporters suggested they would like to see the awards as “a positive celebration”. “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,” said Mr Lane.
“A letter went out this week to supporters about the categories they vote on, including the “Hero of the Year” award, which included a paragraph from Ruth Hunt, that, in line with some of the feedback we have received, we won’t be including a “Bigot of the Year” category this year. However it is absolutely our responsibility to challenge bigotry wherever it exists and we have every intention of still doing so.” Other recipients of the award include the former Anglican Bishop of Hereford, Anthony Priddis, who in 2007 vetoed the appointment of a practising homosexual youth officer, and Fr John Owen, the former Catholic Chaplain of Cardiff University and communications officer for the archdiocese of Cardiff, who in 2009 said most abuse offences against children were committed by gay men.
Previous nominees include Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, and Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the Holy See’s liturgy office.
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