Free support to boost recognition of LGBTQ activists
Howard Lake | 19 June 2021 | News
To mark Pride Month the specialist honours advice agency Bayleaf Honours is offering free guidance to those putting forward LGBTQ-related individuals for consideration throughout June.
Bayleaf Honours supports and encourages the public to nominate their everyday heroes for the recognition they deserve under the British Honours System. During June, the team is removing fees for applications promoting charities, supporters, or activists that are tirelessly working for change across LGBTQ communities.
The company works with nominators to determine the eligibility of their chosen nominee, and craft powerful, persuading applications for consideration for awards like BEM, MBE, OBE, CBE, and Knight/Damehood.
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The honours system recognises people who have
- made achievements in public life or
- committed themselves to serving and helping Britain
They have usually “made life better for other people or be outstanding at what they do”, according to gov.uk.
LGBTQ community honours
Of course many inspirational campaigners, activists, and supporters of the LGBTQ community have already been recognised under the British Honours System.
These include:
- Icebreakers Founder Gary Hardman OBE
- former director of the Manchester LGBT Foundation Gwynn Starkey OBE
- Chair of the Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group Peggy Sherwood MBE
- Nigel George Warner MBE, who was recognised for services to the gay rights movement.
Mike McKie, Founder of Bayleaf Honours, said:
“At Bayleaf Honours, we’ve always worked to support groups and individuals from diverse backgrounds, particularly from BAME and LGBTQ communities in an effort to ensure that all heroes – regardless of ethnicity, gender, or identity – are recognised for the incredible work they do”.
Excellence Not Empire
Although the British Honours system is steeped in tradition, the Bayleaf Honours team are keen to see it change. It supports the #ExcellenceNotEmpire campaign that is setting out to remove the associations of Britain’s damaging colonial past from the Queen’s Honours.
Currently, CBE, OBE, and MBE are appointments to “the Order of the British Empire”. The initiative is campaigning for this to be changed to the Order of British Excellence to create a system that is a “source of pride” for the country.
- OBE for Mark Astarita, British Red Cross Director of Fundraising (13 June 2015)
- Deadline extended for Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Awards 2012 (7 September 2012)
- how to nominate someone for a MBE honour? (31 August 2017)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.