Regent’s Research Fellow and GIC+ Project Consultant, activist and campaigner Deputy Jayne Ozanne has been made an OBE for services to religion and equality based on sexuality and gender. The honour recognises her sustained work tackling discrimination and prejudice on the grounds of sexuality and gender in religious organisations.

Now Deputy of the States of Guernsey – her childhood home – Jayne was the founder of the Ozanne Foundation, which worked with religious organisations around the world to address prejudice and discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community. She was particularly active in efforts to secure an international ban on pseudo-scientific conversion practices, founding the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition in 2020. She also served as an advisor to the UK Government as a member of the LGBT Advisory Panel.

Commenting on the award, Deputy Ozanne said:

‘I am deeply humbled to be honoured in this way and am grateful to His Majesty for recognising the importance of my work. It is critical that we do all we can to highlight the harm that so many LGBT+ people tragically face in settings where they are told that who they are is unacceptable, causing deep psychological trauma due to unbearable levels of self-hatred and shame. I am therefore keen to accept this award in the hope that these religious organisations will recognise the seriousness of this issue.’

The entire Regent’s community congratulates Deputy Jayne Ozanne on this well-deserved honour, and celebrates her tireless commitment to advancing equality, dignity and justice for LGBTQ+ people within faith communities and beyond.