Berlin, 20.11.2010
Tolerantia-Preis 2010 Ceremony in Madrid
The many large and small successes in the continuous war against homophobia and hate crime depend upon the personal commitment of many people. The ”Berlin Alliance Against Homophobia”, of which MANEO is a founding member, awards the Tolerantia Prize every year for outstanding and exemplary dedication, and in recognition of the encouragement that the behaviour of the prize-winners provides to others. This year’s award ceremony took place on 13. November 2010 in Madrid.
The Tolerantia Prize recognises outstanding dedication in the war against homophobia and hate crime in europe. This year’s award ceremony took place on the 13. November in the celebrated cocktailbar “Museo Chicote“ in Madrid, where Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Liz Taylor and Ernest Hemingway have, in earlier years, stood at the bar. In the over 100 guests could be found the leaders of MANEO (Germany, Bastian Finke), SOS-Homophobie (France Bartolomé Girard), Lambda-Warsaw und KPH (Poland, Krzysztof Kliszczyński), and COGAM (Spain, Miguel Angel Gonzalez Merino). Also attending were Boti García Rodrigo and Ximo Cádiz Ródenas from the FELGTB, the best known Spanish LGBT umbrella organisation, and the famous actor Jesús Molina. The prize was awarded to the TEDDY promotors Wieland Speck and Mabel Aschenneller (Germany), lawyer Caroline Mécary (France), the ex-viceprimeminister of Poland Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (Poland) and the actor Imanol Arias (Spain)
Deutschland
Wieland Speck und Mabel Aschenneller
„Film is near to being an art form and above all a medium for the effective delivery of messages. Wieland Speck and Klaus Mabel Aschenneller use the fascinating power of pictures with exceptional effect. Since 1992 Wieland Speck is Programme Leader of the Panorama Section of the Berlin International Film Festival. From the mid 1970s he has been engaged in many parts of the film and Video industry as well as being an author and publisher. The key theme of his work is the emancipation of men, and homosexual identity. In 1985 he directed his first film; the East-West homosexual love story the “Westler”. This was his most successful film and it has many revivals and can be viewed as a political statement. It is particularly popular for the homosexual audience. Klaus Mabel Aschnneller is the co-founder and CEO of the non-profit making sponsoring organisation TEDDY e.V.. This organisation was founded in 1997 and established the TEDDY-Award, the “Queer” film prize of the Berlinale (the Berlin International Film Festival) The purpose is to support GLBT film production.
For their many years of commitment to emancipation in our society integrated with the aim of overcoming homophobia and hate violence, we award to Wieland Speck and Klaus Mabel Aschenneller this years Tolerantia-Prize.“ MANEO.
France
Caroline Mécary
SOS Homophobie has decided that this years Tolerantia-Prize goes to the lawyer Caroline Mécary. In the last 15 years she has worked vigorously as a lawyer to defend the rights of LGBT persons and to have their demands for equality recognised. This dedicated lawyer has campaigned for homosexual marriage and fought for the acceptance of homosexual parents raising children. Caroline Mécary has secured groundbreaking and fundamental decisions. In 2001 she achieved the first judgement permitting in principle the adoption of children by a same sex pair. In 2004 she acted as the lawyer for a homosexual couple that were married in France in front of the town Mayor. In 2008 she was successful when representing a lesbian teacher from France at the European Court of Human Rights. The authorities had refused her right to adopt on the basis of the well being of the child. After this, in 2009, a French court allowed two women in France to adopt a child, it had taken 11 years of legal action.
Caroline Mecary is in great demand as a lawyer in France and other countries. Her specialist advice is highly valued. She has published many books and articles on legal issues. She appears regularly on television and radio, and long articles about her have been published in Liberation and Le Monde. She leads a network of the largest LGBT organisations in France called RAVAD. She is also a member of the European wide network of lawyers who fight against discrimination.
Poland
Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka
“Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka supported LGBTQ-Organisations in Poland for many years. She was always available as their lawyer, took part in debates and conferences and was always able to make the meaning of the rights of LGBTQ persons clear. She took the fight to the opposition and it is her we must thank that the 2005 Warsaw Gay Rights March took place through the streets of Poland’s Capital; the then Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski had originally banned the march. She represented the position of the political left in a strong and authentic way and fought for the rights of minorities and the weak in society. She did this from inner conviction not in order to win votes – she was no politician. For her the rights of the ordinary citizen were the beginning and end of each argument. She supported the recognition of same sex marriage for many years. She wanted to work together with us. In Politics she is simply irreplaceable”. Lamda-Waraw and KPH.
Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, former vice primier of Poland, died at the age of 59 on 10.04.2010 as a passenger in an air-crash in Smolensk. She belonged to the delegation of the top rank Polish establishment who with Polish President Lech Kaczyński, were travelling to Russia for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre.
Spanien
Imanol Arias
Born in 1956 in Riaño (León), he grew up in the Basque city of Ermua. In his youth years he integrated several off-circuit theater companies in the Basque Country. In his long-running career he has worked in movies, theater and television. Among countless other works , his most outstanding roles are in the movies “Laberinto de pasiones” (Labyrinth of Passion), 1982, directed by Pedro Almodóvar; “La Muerte de Mikel” (The Death of Mikel), 1984, where he performed the role of an homosexual whose condition was the cause for many sufferings or “La flor de mi secreto” (The Flower Of My Secret), 1995, where he worked again for Almodóvar.
But Arias has not only been an outstanding actor but also one of the most actively engaged actors in Spain in favor of those in need; he has helped in countless campaigns in favor of Human Rights, for HiV-prevention, among others. He has also taken part in campaigns in favor of the right of transsexual persons and has been nominated Special Ambassador by the UNICEF.
COGAM deems his work deserves the recognition of the Tolerantia-Preis 2010 since in this year he has worked even more actively against the discrimination of LGBT-persons and, last but not least, every form of Human Rights. Mr Arias is also engaged in peace initiatives in the Basque Country.