Ben Summerskill
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Ben Jeffrey Peter Summerskill (born 6 October 1961) is the Chief Executive of the UK-based Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual equality organisation Stonewall, now the largest gay equality body in Europe. He has a lesbian twin sister, Clare, who is a performer [1].
Educated at Cobden Road Infants School. Amherst County Primary School, Sevenoaks School and Merton College, Oxford, he first went into the restaurant trade and was Operations Director from 1987 to 1990 with Kennedy Brookes, a publicly-quoted hospitality company. Becoming a journalist in 1990, he rose to the position of Assistant Editor of The Observer newspaper which he joined in 2000 after having worked for the Daily Express, the London Evening Standard and other magazines.
Summerskill was a Labour councillor for the Westbourne Ward of Westminster City Council from 1994 to 1998.
He succeeded former Director Angela Mason to the position of Chief Executive of Stonewall in early 2003, expanding its work from parliamentary lobbying into other fields including workplace equality and campaigning against homophobia in schools. He led campaigns for repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act, the introduction of Civil Partnership for lesbian and gay people in the UK and the introduction of 2007 protections against discrimination in the provision of "goods and services", covering areas from healthcare and housing to hotels and holidays. He is also remarked for restoring Stonewall to financial good health after a number of precarious years.
Under his direction Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme, promoting good practice among major UK employers, has grown from 35 to 310 members, employing 4 million people between them. Stonewall's new Education for All programme, launched in 2005, is supported by 70 major teaching and children's organisations.
In 2006, Summerskill was appointed a Commissioner on the UK's new Commission for Equality and Human Rights. He had for three years been a member of a Steering Group advising the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on establishing the Commission, which has statutory powers for the first time to promote equality for lesbian and gay people. He also advises the London Development Agency.
His grandmother (Baroness) Edith Summerskill and his aunt (Dr) Shirley Summerskill were both Labour Members of Parliament and government ministers. Edith Summerskill, a former Chairman of the UK Labour Party, was an early advocate of Britain's free National Health Service. Shirley Summerskill helped introduce the UK's Sex Discrimination Act, as a Home Office (Interior) minister.
Ben Summerskill is an occasional contributor to The Guardian and other publications.
Summerskill attacked Chris Moyles in an article in The Guardian claiming Moyles is homophobic. Out of pure sarcasm, Moyles says, "Yeah, I'm homophobic" in an interview when asked about the accusations of homophobia. He then went on to say "I don't like the gays." When referring to the accusations he says, "Sorry, it just does my head in." and follow this with a remark that was intended to be taken as a joke; "We have a token gay on the show!" All this together, taken out of context, could seem extremely homophobic; "Yeah, I'm homophobic, I don't like the gays. Sorry, it just does my head in. We have a token gay on the show!" Chris Moyles denies that he is homophobic in 'The Difficult Second Book', written by Moyles himself, in which he comments on this attack by Summerskill. It is also known that Moyles has gay friends and colleagues including Scott Mills, Aled Jones and Will Young.
Summerskill is a nugget!
