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John Bishop Got A Standing Ovation After Receiving LGBT Ally Award

John Bishop Got A Standing Ovation After Receiving LGBT Ally Award

While his speech was heartfelt, he did manage to squeeze in a bit of classic John Bishop comedy

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

John Bishop has been making us laugh for years with his stand-up comedy and last night he was presented with a pretty decent award.

But this prize had nothing to do with his knack for causing a chuckle, instead he was named Ally of the Year at the NatWest British LGBT Awards.

The 51-year-old avid LFC fan arrived at the ceremony with his wife and three sons, one of whom is gay, and gave a pretty touching speech.

But in typical Bishop fashion, he left room for a bit of comedy.

He told the crowd: "Like all parents we have problems with them. One of my sons has a tattoo on his ankle that was meant to be Africa but looks like Australia, one of my sons mumbles and one of my sons is a gay man.

"I'll be honest, there's been loads of nights when me and my wife have sat up and worried and worried and worried.

PA

"What are we going to do if he doesn't stop mumbling?"

Bishop has supported the Come Out 2 Play initiative, a project designed to help people in the sporting world come out of the closet. The comedian has also thrown his support behind a social media drive to end homophobic abuse on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

At the LGBT event, Bishop added that while England, Scotland and Wales have legalised same-sex marriage, he noted that Northern Ireland is still lagging behind.

"I was in Northern Ireland recently. In Northern Ireland it is still illegal to have a same-sex marriage. I went to have a chat with some people from the Rainbow Trust who put together the biggest gay pride in the whole of Ireland and it was a real lesson to me.

PA

"I spoke to them about when the first pride march happened.

"It is people like this who really paved the way. Now the gay pride in Belfast has 60,000 people turn up. The first time they did it just fifty brave souls got together and when they walked down the road they were faced with people stood there with placards.

"They had placards shouting at these people 'You're going to hell', 'Being gay is a sin', 'You're an abomination'. Back then there was more protestors than marchers. Now they dwarf the protestors."

His speech led to a standing ovation from the 600-strong audience - something that was well deserved.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, lgbt awards, Inspirational, Family, Comedy, LGBT, UK, Gay