Gay Footballer, Singer Lennox Receive U.K. Honors

A founder of one of the United Kingdom’s first gay football teams is among those being recognized in the queen’s New Year Honours list, as is the gay-beloved singer Annie Lennox.

Aslie Pitter (pictured, right), 50, who helped found the Stonewall football club about 20 years ago, said he was “pinching himself” when he heard he was to be named an MBE — Member of the British Empire, the BBC reports.

Pitter, a London resident, said the club was readily accepted by fellow footballers.

“Being black and being gay, I thought I might come in for a lot of stick,” he told the BBC. “In our first game we were sharing a communal shower with seven other teams and I was pretty nervous. But it has never really been a problem.”

Lennox (left) was named an OBE — Officer of the Order of the British Empire — for her activist work to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. She founded the Sing campaign to raise AIDS awareness.

She said she was “genuinely honored” by the recognition. “As somewhat of a renegade, it either means I’ve done something terribly right — or they've done something terribly wrong,” she added.

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