Julian Clary announced as host of 2014 Stonewall Awards

The Awards, supported by Bloomberg, E.ON, Google, Paddy Power and State Street, celebrate the positive contribution of individuals and organisations towards improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.

Lynne Featherstone MP and Lord Cashman are nominated as Politician of the Year for their longstanding support for equality, alongside Lord Fowler, who played a vital role as Health Secretary during the 1980s in raising public awareness of HIV and has since been a staunch advocate of equality, Kerry McCarthy MP, who has used her role as a Shadow Foreign Office Minister to champion LGBT equality and Alex Neil MSP who deftly led the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill through the Scottish Parliament.

Nominees for Broadcast of the Year include the critically acclaimed film Pride, a heart-warming look at the unlikely alliance between gay activists and striking miners, long-running soap favourite Eastenders, which saw dad Danny Dyer support his gay son Johnny, and Netflix’s ground-breaking Orange is the New Black. BBC’s Rev and E4’s My Mad Fat Diary are also nominated for their sensitive portrayal of gay characters and issues.

Biscuit, a vibrant new online hub for bisexual women is nominated as Publication of the Year alongside Buzzfeed, i newspaper, the new and refreshed attitude.co.uk and Property Week, whose detailed look at homophobia in the world of property has earned them their nomination.

Matthew Cain’s Shot Through the Heart lands him a nomination for Writer of the Year alongside Armistead Maupin, who broke hearts across the world as he brought the Tales of the City series to a close with The Days of Anna Madrigal. Sarah Waters’ post war page turner The Paying Guests, Neil Bartlett’s The Disappearance Boy and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series are also nominated.

Arsenal and England player Casey Stoney leads the nominees for Sports Award of the Year alongside Thomas Hitzlsperger, Michael Sam, Pride House and Stonewall FC.

Emmerdale’s Alicya Eyo is nominated as Entertainer of the Year alongside Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Hollyoaks’ Kieron Richardson, Sandi Toksvig, presenter of The News Quiz, and Russell Tovey.

Catherine Bosworth, Stonewall’s Director of Fundraising, said: ‘Julian Clary is an absolute national treasure and we’re delighted that he’ll be hosting this year’s Awards. He’s the perfect person to help us recognise some of the incredible talent in Britain and around the world who are improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.’

Tickets for the Stonewall Awards on 6 November are on sale now and can be purchased from: www.stonewall.org.uk/awards

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