Cara-Friend win Best Community Organisation at Pink News Awards with The Rainbow Project!
- On October 23, 2018
The 2018 Pink News Awards took place in Church House, Westminster in London on Wednesday, October 17th. Cara-Friend were delighted to be in attendance, with Deputy Director Declan Meehan and Community Development Manager Adam Murray representing the organisation. Cara-Friend were nominated alongside sectoral partners, The Rainbow Project, in the Best Community Organisation category. The awards recognise groups and individuals who have made a significant contribution to the progress of LGBTQI+ rights across the United Kingdom. Cara-Friend and The Rainbow Project were nominated alongside the Albert Kennedy Trust, Just Like Us and Time for Inclusive Education (TIE).
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, presented the award. The award was jointly awarded to Cara-Friend and The Rainbow Project. John O’Doherty of The Rainbow Project made an impassioned speech calling on all at the awards ceremony to get behind the campaign for marriage equality in Northern Ireland, Love Equality.
The Best Politician Award of the Year was awarded jointly to Lord Hayward and Conor McGinn, MP, for their bicameral approach and cross-party cooperation working towards legislation which would extend marriage equality into Northern Ireland. Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, presented the two with their awards.
Declan Meehan: “We are delighted to be recognised along with our colleagues in The Rainbow Project as the best community organisations in the UK. It is recognition of the hard work put in by all our sector, including the staff, board members and volunteers of each and every one of those organisations. We are particularly pleased that the Pink News Award judges used this year to shine a light specifically on Northern Ireland, through the Community Organisation and Politician Awards, in order to raise awareness among LGBTQI+ organisations, activists and allies in other parts of the UK around the inequalities that still exist for LGBTQI+ people in NI.”
