GAY TIMES HONOURS
Meet the 11 LGBTQ trailblazers and allies celebrated at GAY TIMES Honours 500.
OOn 21 November, GAY TIMES Honours 500 took over Magazine London in the British capital to celebrate queer culture, community and entertainment. Hosted by Benny Drama, the evening played host to worldfamous queer talent, inspirational community leaders, and the next generation of artists and activists doing their bit in the fight for true equality.
GAY TIMES Honours was first established in 2017 as a ceremony to acknowledge those who have made a profound impact on LGBTQ people in the past 12 months. From community trailblazers to highly-visible queer stars, it’s an event that brings together people from all across our community to celebrate, uplift and inspire. To mark our recent landmark 500th issue as
Europe’s longest-running LGBTQ publication, this year’s event was named GAY TIMES Honours 500. It marked the biest event in our company’s recent history, with more than a thousand people packed into the venue for showstopping performances by Pabllo Vittar, ALMA, L Devine, VINCINT, Little Gay Brother and DJ sets from Honey Dijon, Jodie Harsh and BBZ.
Eleven GAY TIMES Honours were given out during the evening to people making huge strides for the rights, representation, and visibility of queer people not only here in the UK, but all over the world. Here we give an outline of each of the winners and the immense work they do, the art they contribute, and the voices they lend to better the lives of queer people everywhere.
British Community Trailblazer: Anick Soni
While representation for gay and lesbian people – and slowly trans people – becomes more common in mainstream media, one part of the LGBTQ community that is almost always left out of the conversation are intersex people. Anick Soni, an activist who organised the first intersex march at Pride in London last year, is trying to change that. He came out as intersex at the age of 21, and has since used his voice to provide representation and help others who have felt ashamed or silenced. “I never thought I’d be proud of the parts of me I grew up hating,” he tells us. “The more I discovered how little there was out there for me to learn what intersex is, the more determined I was to share my story in the hope of finding my community and changing my world.”
One of the biest fights the community still faces is the fact that, unlike sexuality or gender identity, being intersex is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. “This has wide-reaching implications on many areas from health to protection from discrimination,” explains Anick. It also means that hospitals across the UK (and the world) continue to perform surgeries on intersex children without their consent. “A lot of my community have undergone procedures which were never fully explained to our parents or carers, let alone us.” Next, Anick wants to tackle the lack of representation in the media that leaves many in the community feeling invisible. “I often receive messages from parents and other intersex people of different ages from around the world who reach out because they’re glad they’re not alone,” he continues. “I’m even working on a children’s book and grown-ups guide so that we can have these conversations around intersex. Our goal as an intersex community is to fight the erasure and heal each other.”
International Community Trailblazer: The Commonwealth Equality Network
Established in 2013, The Commonwealth Equality Network (TCEN) is a group of over 60 organisations spanning five regions of the Commonwealth to create a collective voice for LGBTQ human rights. They operate in countries from Fiji to Belize, Zambia to Sri Lanka, Cyrus to Ghana and beyond. “Primarily we connect LGBTI+ organisations with decision-makers at a national or regional level, whether that be parliamentarians, business people or community leaders, and advocate for them to support upholding and protecting the inalienable rights of their LGBTI+ citizens,” Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, Chair of TCEN tells us. Recent years have seen some huge wins for the rights of LGBTQ people living in the Commonwealth, including the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India and Botswana. However, there is a significant amount of work left to do, and The Commonwealth Equality Network is at the forefront of that fight for change.
“Criminalisation of homosexuality is still a challenge,” says Rosanna. “When the simple act of being same-sex attracted is itself illegal, it makes it very difficult to provide support and services to your community, because in doing so you are implicated in the illegality.” While the UK government has now acknowledged its colonial legacy and how it has led to the persecution and discrimination of millions of LGBTQ people across the world, our commitment to it needs to be long-term. “Supporting pioneering networks like TCEN who are giving LGBTQ people on the ground in Commonwealth countries access to high-level diplomatic and political spaces is a brilliant first step and we are deeply thankful for the UK government’s support thus far,” says Rosanna. “I often think that the British public, including the British LGBTQ community, isn’t always aware of the extent to which their country, which enjoys relative freedom for LGBTI+ people, is implicated in the fight for human rights abroad. I would love to see more discourse within the country around the effects of British colonialism on the human rights situation in countries across the Commonwealth.”
Amplifund Future Fighter: Hafsa Qureshi
“Coming out in South Asian and Muslim communities was a challenge, as I was worried I’d be at risk of violence,” British activist Hafsa Qureshi tells us. “There were and are some who don’t accept me, and chose to cut ties as a result.” Living at the intersection of two identities – bisexual and Muslim – Hafsa has worked to inspire and educate people who have misconceptions of either or both of them. She has also found herself as a much-needed role model for those like her who have never seen themselves represented in that way before. “What I’ve learned is that anyone can be a role model, it’s the stepping forward that can be hard at first,” she says. “But representation alone can be transformative for so many people. I had no idea I could help others just by being out and proud.”
Hafsa previously held a position at the Ministry of Justice and worked with the department’s LGBTQ network Spirit to help organise events, speak on panels, and arrange an MOJ presence at Birmingham Pride. After being named Stonewall’s Bi Role Model of the Year 2019, Hafsa joined the LGBTQ charity to continue her advocacy work in fighting for true equality. “Living as a queer person is a form of activism,” she says. “You don’t need to be out to everyone. Self-care is vital in today’s political climate, and just being out to yourself and living authentically makes a huge difference.” Hafsa is striving for a future where her identity isn’t politicised. “A bisexual Muslim will be as mundane as someone saying they have blue eyes,” she adds. She will also continue in her fight – and urge others to join her – to protect the trans community. “I hope that the relentless attack on the trans community will cease, and that more people step up as trans allies to support our trans siblings,” she says. “We are a queer community, and unity is our strength.”
Drag Hero:
Pabllo Vittar
In a country that has an openly homophobic president and the highestrecorded murder rate of LGBTQ people in the world, Pabllo Vittar stands as a beacon of hope for Brazil’s queer community. Through hard work and determination, she’s garnered the largest social media following of any drag queen in the world, received over one billion views on YouTube, and became the first drag artist to win an MTV Award at the European Music Awards this year. Pabllo’s success as an out-and-proud queer artist alone is moving mountains for LGBTQ equality, but she’s using her voice for good, too. During an electric performance at the 2018 Multishow Brazilian Music Awards, she shouted “Ele Não” (“Not Him”), a viral slogan and hashtag that’s been used to show opposition to Brazil’s anti-LGBTQ leader Jair Bolsonaro, and she’s performed at Pride events around the world, including New York City’s epic Stonewall 50th anniversary celebrations earlier this year.
Perhaps most importantly, Pabllo is concrete proof of the mainstream potential for drag queens. She’s gained the respect of many in the industry, including super-producer Diplo and fellow pop stars Anitta and Fergie. She released her first English-language single, Flash Pose, this year with a feature from Charli XCX. Pabllo has bridged the gap between drag, which has historically been an underground art form, and mainstream music. “I don’t know how many times the answer was ‘no’, we could see the discrimination in their eyes,” she says of her journey to success in the industry. “In Brazil, the art of drag was always something to be kept in the shadows of small clubs and not in mainstream media, so every ‘yes’ we got was a victory. And it’s not just me, there were a lot of LGBTQ artists who broke that barrier, and now we are everywhere. We’re no longer going to hide in the shadows.”
Sporting Hero:
Ryan Russell
Earlier this year, Ryan Russell made history when he came out as bisexual. The free agent – who has played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – became not only the first openly LGBTQ player at the professional level of American football but also the first openly LGBTQ athlete across all major professional leagues in the United States. His decision to live openly came as he no longer wanted to hide his truth on his journey to achieve his career goals. “It felt suffocating, it felt regressive, it felt harmful and I never wanted achieving my dreams to feel that way,” he says. “I feel very grateful to be part of the LGBTQ community and for people to know that and to see that and to just embrace that and my experience.”
While coming out may have been a personal journey, his brave decision will no doubt have a huge impact on the world of sports, providing a positive role model for other queer people who wish to compete without hiding a part of themselves. He describes it as a “life-saving” experience. “I had hopes that my story could help a young athlete, someone that had the same questions I had and had the same worries that I had in the back of my mind,” he says. As well as being an openly queer person of colour, Ryan is also providing muchneeded representation for the bisexual community, who are often erased from LGBTQ conversations. “Sight and visibility and representation gives us hope and it builds confidence within us. If someone from where I came from, who looks like me, or believes what I believe, or loves who I love, it’s a power.”
Fashion Fighter:
ART SCHOOL
“ART SCHOOL is a celebration of queer expression, reflective of so many corners of the world we’ve created in London and beyond”. Eden Loweth and Tom Barratt are the creative design duo ripping archaic gender labels apart. This refashioning sees the birth of their new inclusive philosophy ‘a non-binary queer-luxury fashion label’ .
Under the mentorship of Lulu Kennedy and FASHION EAST, the brand first debuted at London Fashion Week Men’s AW17. The presentation was ablaze with a host of queer characters, all hand cast from the duo’s eclectic mix of friends and loved ones. For Loweth and Barratt the queer community are ‘the very essence of our brand since day one. These people have built ART SCHOOL, they inspire us, they’re our chosen family and they empower everything we do’. From there, the pair have been on unstoppable creative force, dressing the likes of Rihanna and Christina Aguilera, to being nominated for Emerging Talent Menswear at The Fashion Awards, this past December 2018.
“The breaking down of gendered stereotypes is vital if we are to truly exist in a modern society reflective of everyone. This movement that’s begun is really unstoppable and it’s up to every one of us across industries to embrace it.” Loweth and Barratt simply exemplify the future of queer fashion.
On-screen Trailblazer:
Ncuti Gatwa
Netflix proved (once again) that they were at at the forefront of representation with the release of Sex Education earlier this year. The coming-of-age dramedy – which follows a sexually awkward teenager living with his sex therapist mother – garnered over 40 million viewers in its first week of release, becoming one of the streaming service’s most successful shows in history. It received high acclaim from fans and critics for the cast’s performances, for tackling sensitive subjects and its diverse representation of the LGBTQ community - especially for the character of Eric Effiong.
Played by Scottish-Rwandan actor Ncuti Gatwa, Eric has been lauded for subverting the stereotypes of the gay/black best friend stock character. While he does inhibit the comedic element of a sidekick, with his witty one-liners, he has been at the centre of some of the show’s most gut-wrenching and heartwarming scenes.
For dressing in drag, Eric is mued and beaten by two homophobes, which massively hit home for so many queer viewers, because we’ve all lived in fear of being attacked because of our sexuality. Later, Eric ditches his colourful wardrobe and dresses in darker colours to tone down his queerness. But when he meets another queer man of colour, who is much like himself, he realises that he needs to live authentically and attends his prom in the most fabulous, flamboyant attire. This leads to one of the most beautiful television moments of 2019: despite expressing concern for his outlandish appearance, Eric’s father - a traditional Ghanian man - tells him, “Maybe I am learning from my brave son.” Yes, we sobbed. Due to Ncuti’s layered performance, Eric has been hailed by many as the show’s breakout character. He was nominated for Best Breakthrough Performance at the MTV Movie Awards and for Best Kiss (with Connor Swindells) - a landmark moment for queer people of colour.
Allyship in Music:
Charli XCX
It’s hard to think of an artist who has used their platform to amplify queer voices quite like Charli XCX. With her last three releases, Number 1 Angel, Pop 2 and Charli, the British singer-songwriter has collaborated with an unprecedented number of queer talent such as Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, Big Freedia, Christine and the Queens, Brooke Candy and Pabllo Vittar - cementing her status as an ally. “It’s not even a conscious decision – I just kind of feel like artists who move in a queer space or are related to a queer space in some sort of way tend to have better ideas and make music that I instantly gravitate towards,” explains Charli. “Taste jumped out, as they say.” Due to the aforementioned collaborations and her knack for crafting futuristic pop beats, Charli has been hailed as the “future of pop” by the community who appear in droves to her concerts, which are often deemed ‘safe spaces’ for them to be their authentic selves.
On social media, you’ll often see Charli at meet and greets with her fans, where she’ll unashamedly sign their bottles of poppers and proclaim “gay rights!” on future viral videos. “I feel like I wouldn’t be here without the LGBTQ community. They are such a core part of my fanbase and have stuck with me through the highs and lows, through times where no one cared, they were there still cheering me on,” says Charli. “I honestly think that the LGBTQ community has better taste! Like truly. I think it’s also about that sense of embracing who you are and being proud to be different. I am proud to be different now, and stand on the fringes of pop music but also be totally obsessed with it and maybe my LGBTQ fans can relate to that feeling.”
Elevate Emerging Star in Music:
L Devine
Long gone are the days where new artists are encouraged to hide their sexuality – and guess what? The music is so much better for it. One of the most exciting British talents among the charge of queer artists coming to the forefront is L Devine – real name Olivia Devine – whose tales of same-sex romance and heartache set to a backdrop of fresh pop production has won her a legion of fans. Her two sold-out headline shows in London this year were packed full of young music fans clinging onto every lyric, bouncing to every beat, and generally idolising a future queer icon. This year she also had her biest hit in the form of Naked Alone, gaining significant support from Radio 1 and setting her on a trajectory to stardom.
But it’s not only L Devine’s music that is refreshing; she is also no stranger to speaking her mind. In a world of filtered Instagram posts and diluted personas, Olivia’s voice cuts through – particularly when she talks about being a female artist in a male-dominated music industry. “If a 17-year-old girl is writing a song about her experiences, you don’t need another male writer who’s in his 30s who, just because he’s got hits under his belt…” she told us earlier this year. “At the end of the day, he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a 17-year-old girl.” It goes without saying that there’s a new generation of music fans out there now who crave authenticity. Young music fans aren’t stupid, they can smell a manufactured act a mile off. “It’s cringey man,” L Devine adds. “There’s nothing worse than hearing some over-sexualised song sung by a teenage girl and then looking at the writing credits and it’s been written by a 40-year-old man.” With her biest headline tour scheduled for 2020 and even more new music on the way, L Devine is a queer talent in full control of her own narrative.
Excellence in Music:
The Japanese House
It may have taken her five years, but Amber Bain - aka The Japanese House - finally made her mark on the LP front with her long-awaited debut album, Good at Falling. Was it worth the wait? She’s receiving the Excellence in Music honour, so… connect the dots. The 13-track collection is one of the most compelling records of the year; filled to the brim with euphoric and shimmering alt-pop anthems such as dream-bop Follow My Girl and the intimate fanfavourite single Maybe You’re the Reason. Lyrically, it’s Amber’s most vulnerable work to date, describing the rise and fall - and all the gooey feelings inbetween - of a queer relationship. What makes the record so special is how it presents a same-sex romance as an entirely normal thing, providing a relatable voice for her young queer fans who are experiencing both love and heartbreak. The visual for Lilo - which features her ex-girlfriend, fellow musician Marika Hackman - is a prime example of this. On YouTube, the video boasts hundreds of comments from supporters, all of which praise its authenticity and for finally providing non-sexualised representation for queer females. The honesty and vulnerability continues on the record as she sheds light on her battle with anxiety and her fraught relationship with alcohol. Amber’s raw songwriting and exploration of the folktronica and chillwave genres resulted in rave reviews from fans and critics; Good At Falling sits comfortably on Metacritic as one of the most lauded records of the year.
Outstanding Impact:
Honey Dijon
In this modern world we live in, the meaning of ‘influence’ has many different guises. A new generation would consider it a result of being the funniest, prettiest or most boujee person on Instagram. But the true substance of what real influence looks like includes cultural relevance, a rich understanding of life, and knowing what people want just before they realise it themselves. That’s the lane that Honey Dijon plays in. A self-described selector in the world of music and fashion, the world-renowned DJ first started her career in the 90s and quickly became famous for her cross-genre sets. But the level of success she enjoys now didn’t come overnight. After more than a decade of playing clubs, Honey finally found herself as a globe-trotting superstar with her own headline shows and Comme Des Garçons-backed fashion line. “I just stuck around long enough for culture to turn,” she tells us. “Everything I’ve manifested creatively has come from being a fan and loving it so much that I’ve willed myself into these rooms with these people.” Those people include the likes of Naomi Campbell, Dior creative director Kim Jones, and most recently Madonna, who personally asked Honey to remix her song I Don’t Search I Find.
While Honey doesn’t consider herself an activist, she is acutely aware that as a trans woman of colour working in the white male-dominated world of dance music, her very success challenges the status quo. “The fact that I’ve been able to manifest all of these really highly creative opportunities for myself is political in itself. I mean, five years ago that wouldn’t have been possible – two years ago, it wouldn’t have been possible,” she says. Of course, Honey is proud trans woman of colour, but that’s just one facet of who she is and it doesn’t tell the whole story. “I think there are so many more important things about me as a human being than what my gender expression or identity is,” she says. “I think my music is more important, and I think the way I choose to navigate the world is much more interesting. The fact I can go and do a Dior [show], and then do something like a [leading British house label] Defective party or an all-queer party, that’s much more interesting than the fact I’m trans. I hate the word ‘transition’; I like the idea of people evolving into their truth”. Honey Fucking Dijon is a shining example of that mantra who is not only surviving but thriving at the intersection of all her identities.