GAY ACTOR RECEIVES OBE

Scottish-born actor Alan Cumming has received an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the annual Queen’s birthday honours list “for services to film, theatre and the arts and to activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community.”

Cumming is a Tony award-winning theatre actor, having starred in plays such as Cabaret and Noel Coward’s Design for Living, while his film resume includes X2 and the Spy Kids trilogy.

Cumming is also an LGBT rights activist, and has promoted gay rights on both sides of the Atlantic with organisations such as GLAAD and the HRC, as well as working for several AIDS charities, including AMFAR and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The bisexual actor, who now lives in New York, used his honour to highlight the “inaction” of the US government on gay rights.

Writing on his blog, he said: “The fight for equality for the LGBT community in the US is something I am very passionate about, and I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen.

“Thank you to the Queen and those who make up her birthday honours list for bringing attention to the inaction of the US government on this issue. It makes me very proud to be British, and galvanised as an American.”

Other honours recipients included celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, US economist David Blanchflower, Delia Smith, golfer Nick Faldo and Dracula actor Christopher Lee.