On 6th November, Stonewall’s annual awards ceremony takes place in London. Many Liberal Democrats have had their issues with Stonewall in the past, but I’d say that they are definitely improving. For example, it’s good to see Stonewall Scotland’s “Some people are Trans, get over it” t-shirts. They may have come late to the equal marriage party, but they got there eventually.  On top of that,  their resources for schools are excellent.  Stonewall Chief Executive, Ruth Hunt, who is doing some great work in making the organisation more inclusive, spoke at our Conference in Glasgow.

Up for Politician of the Year is our own Lynne Featherstone, the woman who set the country firmly on the road to same sex marriage. Alex Neil, the Minister who was responsible for the Scottish bill, is also nominated. As an aside, it was announced yesterday that the first Scottish same sex marriages will take place on Hogmanay. That’s not a huge amount of time to organise a party, but I’m sure some will manage it.

The shortlist in full is:

Lord Cashman
Lynne Featherstone MP
Lord Fowler
Kerry McCarthy MP
Alex Neil MSP

You can see the other categories here.

Lynne said about her nomination:

It’s a huge honour to be nominated for this award – thank you very much to Stonewall! I look forward to attending the awards.

In the UK, we have made incredible progress with equal marriage. Words can’t really describe the overwhelming joy I felt attending two beautiful wedding ceremonies on that historic day in March, when finally love became equal before the law.

I still get very emotional when people thank me for my work on same-sex marriage. Often when I speak at an event someone, usually a young man, will approach me and say ‘thank you’ – it’s incredibly heart-warming.

Talking of heartwarming, this is as good an excuse as any to give you the chance to see the same sex marriage presentation at Conference or, as it is also known, Ed Fordham and Russell Eagling’s wedding photographs. I was there that day and it was fantastic. The MC for the Wedding, Alistair Carmichael, described it as “the Glee Club, scrubbed up.”

Enjoy. You will need a cup of tea and some hankies because you are likely to cry.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social