Homosexual campaign group, Stonewall, has announced that it is dropping its controversial 'Bigot of the Year' Award. In the past, those who have spoken out against the redefinition of marriage have been nominated - provoking a campaign against the award by supporters of Christian Concern.
Collective campaign
In 2012, Christian Concern led a campaign to challenge corporate sponsors of the event to drop their support in light of the award.
At the time, a Barclays spokesperson replied to concerns raised by Christian Concern supporters, saying: "I have recently been made aware of the inclusion of a ‘Bigot of the Year’ category in the awards. Let me be absolutely clear that Barclays does not support that award category either financially, or in principle and have informed Stonewall that should they decide to continue with this category we will not support this event in the future."
Meanwhile, the Queen's bankers, Coutts, told Christian Concern supporters that "we have advised Stonewall that we will be withdrawing our support of the awards unless they remove [the Bigot of the Year] category."
In 2013, Stonewall continued the Award but big corporate names including Barclays and PwC who had been contacted by Christian Concern supporters dropped their sponsorship of the event.
Now Stonewall has announced that the controversial award will not feature in the 2014 awards.
The value of taking action
Responding to the news, Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern said:
"Thank you to all those who have taken action over the last couple of years, contacting senior executives in leading companies to make them aware of what they were tacitly supporting. This outcome highlights the importance of speaking up together even when the results are not immediate. This was a very provocative award intended to intimidate those who speak of God's good pattern for family. It is great to see it scrapped."
