Honouring Dan Savage, Stephen Lewis and gay-straight alliances

More than 220 advocates of sexual diversity education gathered  April 25 for the first annual Bonham Centre Awards Gala, presented by the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto's University College.

Honoured for substantial contributions to the public understanding of sexual diversity were University College alumnus Stephen Lewis, longtime HIV/AIDS crusader and co-founder of AIDS-Free World; Dan Savage, bestselling author and co-founder of the It Gets Better campaign to help prevent suicide among LGBT youth; and Bent on Change, a gay-straight alliance at Harbord Collegiate Institute in Toronto, representing other such groups across Canada.

“Bent on Change, Stephen Lewis, and Dan Savage are each at the forefront of education in sexual diversity, an area that I would describe as the civil rights issue of our time,” said Bonham Centre Director Brenda Cossman, a professor in the Faculty of Law and an expert in the field of sexuality and the law.

Distinguished guests included Centre founder and namesake Mark Bonham, University of Toronto President David Naylor, alumna Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario (pictured below) and alumnus Charles Pachter, award-winning artist.

Presiding over the festivities was master of ceremonies Tré Armstrong, dancer, choreographer, and judge on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and the founder of the Tré Armstrong Foundation encouraging self-esteem and creative expression through dance. Musical entertainment was provided by Juno award-winning jazz artist Molly Johnson, founder of the Kumbaya Foundation and Festival in support of people living with HIV/AIDS.

While the Bonham Centre Awards were established in 2007, 2013 marked their first year as a gala event.

“Now more than ever, we want to help our students and the broader community understand what genuine inclusivity means,” said Bonham Centre founding director Professor David Rayside. “The challenges here are complex, and our own students are constantly raising new questions that go beyond what those of us in older generations can imagine.

"This is crucial work, and we need to do more of it,” he said.

Past recipients on the Bonham Centre Award include Oscar-winning screenwriter and LGBT rights activist Dustin Lance Black, Degrassi television series co-creator and executive producer Linda Schuyler, filmmaker John Greyson, lawyer Barbara Findlay, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and renowned sexual educator and counsellor Sue Johanson.