As every year, the CSD-Stonewall Award Ceremony will be held during the CSD Parade. This year it will be held during the EuroPride Parade on the main stage at the Münsterhof on 6 June 2009. The Stonewall award is given to persons, groups or organizations that have significantly supported the concerns of lesbians, gays, bi- and transsexuals. It is endowed with CHF 3000 and can be awarded to individuals or groups active in politics, society, culture, sports, economics or daily life. The patrons of the award are the Stonewall Foundation and CSD Zurich.

This year, the following three candidates have made it to the final (see below for more information on the candidates):

- Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp who have actively supported the community for over 50 years
- rainbowgirls.ch, who provide support for lesbians in all situations
- Queer Officers, who fight for equality for LGBT army personnel.

You find the Voting Form on the upper right side.

Moderated by Patrick Rohr

Renowned TV host Patrick Rohr will present this year’s CSD-Stonewall-Award ceremony. The former Swiss television moderator already presented the award in 2007 and this year’s ceremony is sure to be as charmingly and skilfully presented.

Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp

Actively supporting the community for over 50 years. Ernst and Röbi have been a couple for over 50 years, and they were amongst the first couple to have their relationship registered in Switzerland. For half a century they have followed and supported the development of LGBT rights, especially as active members of the legendary “Kreis”. On the 3rd of June they will present the results of their wide reaching research on “gay history” (http://www.schwulengeschichte.ch/) . They are nominated for the CSD Stonewall Award for their life’s work of involvement with the gay community.

Rainbowgirls.ch

Providing support to lesbians in all situations. It is difficult to imagine the Swiss LGBT-community without rainbowgirls.ch. The website is mainly run by volunteers and provides support and advice to young lesbian and bisexual women on all questions concerning homo- and bisexuality. rainbowgirls.ch is nominated for the CSD-Stonewall-Award because it has been supporting young women with advice for many years and continues to be a valuable electronic source for information on the coming-out experiences of lesbians. http://www.rainbowgirls.ch/

Queer Officers

Fighting for equality in uniform.
In 2005 gay army officers founded the organization “Queer Officers”. Their goal is to protect homo- and bisexual army personnel against discrimination and strengthen their sense of solidarity. They are nominated for the CSD-Stonewall-Award (among other reasons), because this year they managed to convince the army chief to issue an order concerning the handling of diversity management in the Swiss army.
http://www.queer-officers.ch/

The Stonewall Foundation

The Stonewall Foundation promotes gay and lesbian projects. Since its foundation in 1989 in Basel it has supported around 140 projects in the areas of culture, art, science and politics. In order to continue to do so, the Stonewall Foundation needs financial support. Donations and legacies can be remitted to the PC account 40-23202-2. For more information visit http://www.stonewall.ch/

For further inquiries: Roberto Zimmermann, Stiftung Stonewall Schweiz, 076 381 23 49, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it