2010 Award Winners
Person of the year
Dr Lydia Foy
In the face of enormous personal difficulty, but with good humour and grace, Lydia
Foy took a case against the Irish Government to have her true gender recognised
on her birth certificate 13 years ago. Despite a High Court ruling that Ireland’s
laws on transgender rights were incompatible with the European Convention on Human
Rights, the Irish government fought against her case until this June, when they
realised they were on the wrong end of a losing battle.
When the Government withdrew its appeal in the Lydia Foy case, it was not only a
moment of great personal victory after gruelling years of legal lows, it was a moment
in which history was made, when a lone individual stood up for her human rights
and changed society and our laws for the better, not only for transgendered men
and women, but for all of us.
Community Organisation of the year
Northwest Pride
Northwest LGBT Pride is a community festival based in Sligo and Leitrim. Now in
its fifth year, it continues to bring together LGBT people experiencing rural isolation
and offering low-cost accommodation, transport and childcare to facilitate participation.
Between festivals, Northwest Pride undertakes outreach activities across the Northwest,
including the cross-border project ‘ProudNet’.
Volunteer of the year
Billy Rabbitte
Billy Rabbitte is a co-founder of last year’s GALAS Community Organisation of the
Year – BeLonG To youth services. Billy has volunteered with BeLonG To for nine years
and is active on its board as a tireless champion of LGBT young people’s rights.
Billy also spent two years volunteering with the AIDS Helpline and almost seven
years with Gay Switchboard Dublin.
Employer of the year
An Garda Síochána
With over 16,000 Garda and Civilian employees, An Garda Síochána have long worked
closely with the LGBT community in Ireland for effective policing, introducing special
Garda Liaison Officers across the country.
In 2009, the official Garda LGB Network, ‘G Force’, was set up, to support LGB members
of the force.
LGBT Business Person of the Year
Darina Brennan
Darina Brennan has worked in a number of prestigious roles, both in Ireland and
in an international setting. In 2005, Darina joined the Fire restaurant and venue
team as Executive Head Chef. In her position at Fire, Darina has supported numerous
LGBT organisations seeking equality, including the annual Marriagequality fundraising
lunch.
Artist/Entertainer of the Year
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín was born in Co. Wexford in 1955. He is the multi-award winning author
of six novels, including Brooklyn which won the Costa Novel Award and was longlisted
for the Man Booker Prize in 2009; The Blackwater Lightship (1999) and The Master
(2004), both of which were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has spoken and
written passionately about the importance of the Irish Queer Archive.
The International Award
Joel Narna
Joel Nana, from Cameroon, campaigns for the rights of LGBT people across the African
continent. Last year Joel set-up African Men for Sexual Health & Rights (AMSHER),
a coalition of organisations from 15 African countries that seeks to promote the
sexual health of gay men and transgender women.
“For most of my colleagues it’s nothing less than heroic, to stand up and speak
out about rights of LGBT people,” says Joel. “Most face pressure or even reprisals
- not just from the police, but also from religious leaders, their neighbours and
their families. To know that people support you and your work, near and far, makes
a great difference.”
A bursary of €2,000, provided by Amnesty International, ICCL, Frontline Defenders
and NLGF, was to Joel for his continuing LGBT activist work.
LGBT-friendly Politician of The Year
Senator David Norris
GALAS Gay Icon of 2009, David Norris is a member of the Trinity College Dublin University
Panel in Seanad Eireann since 1987 and a founding member of the Joint Committee
on Foreign Affairs. His main areas of concern are national and international human
and civil rights, and conservation of Dublin architectural history. He has ceaselessly
championed equality issues for LGBT people since the beginning of his career, and
was the first openly gay politican in Ireland.
Journalist/Broadcaster of the year
Martina Devlin
Martina Devlin is an author, newspaper columnist and Hennessy Literary Prize-winner.
She writes weekly columns for the Irish Independent and Sunday World Magazine.
Her impassioned opinion piece ‘Children of Gay Couples Pay High Price for Our Prejudice’,
was published in the Irish Independent on July 1, 2010. “The [Civil Partnership]
Bill as it stands is inconsistent and discriminatory, and the injustice enshrined
by it targets children whose sexual preference is not at issue,” she wrote. “This
must be rectified.”
Website/Blogger of the Year
QueerID.com
Seven years ago, QueerID began as a social networking site for the Dublin gay community
but since then has become a welcoming space for LGBT people everywhere to share
news, views, events or just to chat. The site prides itself on its 10,000 diverse
members reflecting all aspects of our community.
Event of the year
Growing Up Gay
Broadcast on RTÉ 1 in April 2010, Growing Up Gay followed the lives of six LGBT
teenagers over the course of 18 months. Made with the assistance of BeLonG To, the
series sought to highlight the challenges that LGBT young people still face in their
everyday lives. A Crossing The Line production, directed by Aoife Kelleher and produced
by Anna Rodgers, Growing Up Gay was a landmark moment in Irish television.
The Noel Walsh HIV Campaigner of the Year Award
Jimmy Goulding
Jimmy Goulding volunteers as a peer support and outreach worker and advocates for
people living with HIV and AIDS. In 2009, Jimmy won a landmark case with the Equality
Authority in relation to HIV discrimination, establishing a prima facie of less
favourable treatment on the grounds of HIV status. Jimmy works to educate people
living with HIV on their rights and entitlements.