said by Timmy
on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 10:26am

Congratulations Trevor, well and truly deserved!

said by mike
on Saturday, 23 June 2007, 12:04pm

When I met Trevor he was just an ordinary bloke, into swimming, back packer holidays and almost every weekend under the bonnet of an old banger car owing to his huge passion for the greasy side of mechanics.

His determination to put gay sports on an equal footing to the straight community came later, around eight years ago, when him mum was ill with cancer and telling Trevor how proud of him she felt for being different and for building the life he wanted with his male mate, even though she said it will mean no babies. This helped Trevor cast away any of the chains from having grown up in a Sheffield Steel community. Gay equality was not easy in the Yorkshire city but when he moved to Manchester new opportunities opened, leading onto the birth of Pride Games and taking the message of why we have a right to be ourselves centre stage - some call it our equal rights, but on that I feel there is a way to go.

This year has a fascinating spectrum of businesses, councils and voluntary groups on board, proclaiming how proud they are to support the 2007 Pride Games. This is one measure of the shift of UK attitudes which has become more respective of the LGBT community and we know people who, like Trevor, have made the changes happen, each deserves to be honoured.

Casting the mind back ten years to when Canal Street was in its infancy, who imagined the LGBT community would get to build Pride Games in this City, using such high profile venues like the Aquatics Centre and Sports City. What has begun is the shift to make Greater Manchester the example for other Cities to follow and we need to ensure events like London 2012 take note.

It is impossible for me to express how proud I am of Trevor and his commitment but let me tell you about when I was at his side in Buckingham Palace where he turned to me with a beaming smile, holding the medal high and said this one is for us all.