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This article is more than 1 year old

Stagecoach, a company co-founded and chaired by a businessman who campaigned against gay rights, has been named as lead sponsor of the Turner prize 2019.

The sponsorship was announced as Tate Britain revealed the shortlist for the 2019 prize, to be hosted this year by Turner Contemporary in Margate.

Turner Contemporary has brought the local bus company, Stagecoach South East, on board as sponsor. It is one of 18 locally managed companies within the Stagecoach Group, a company chaired by Sir Brian Souter.

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In 2000 Souter gave £1m to a campaign to keep the anti-gay section 28 in Scottish law. He has also warned society may implode if traditional marriage fails. In remarks in 2014, he denied being homophobic.

The revelation of the sponsor meant the shortlist press conference was an uncomfortable occasion as journalists asked judges and the bosses of Tate Britain and Turner Contemporary whether Stagecoach was an appropriate sponsor.

Victoria Pomery, the director of Turner Contemporary, said Stagecoach South East was involved in many community projects in Margate and provided a good service to the local community. “We are not in a major conurbation and we are constantly trying to bring new partnerships in to play so we thought Stagecoach could achieve that.”

The campaign group Stonewall said it could not yet comment directly on the Turner prize sponsorship but a spokesperson said: “Brian Souter’s previous comments about LGBT people are just one example of how much work is still left to do to combat discrimination.

“Faith is often used to justify anti-LGBT views and attitudes. This is wrong and perpetuates a myth that faith and LGBT inclusion cannot coexist. Our work continues to end the use of hateful language against lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.”

In a statement Stagecoach said it did not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. “Our Stagecoach culture values transparency, diversity, and respect. We expect our employees to commit to doing the right thing, to respect other individuals at all times and treat them with dignity, and thoughtfulness, and we are committed to providing equal opportunities for all.”

The sponsorship overshadowed the announcement of the shortlist, which this year features Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani.

All are multidisciplinary artists who tackle political, economic and socially important subjects.

Abu Hamdan, a Jordan-born Beirut-based artist, calls himself an audio investigator, or “private ear”. He is nominated for shows including one at Chisenhale gallery in east London, which evolved from interviews he undertook with former detainees at the Syrian regime prison Saydnaya.

Cammock, 48, born in Staffordshire, is shortlisted for a show first exhibited at the Derry gallery Void , and now at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Her film The Long Note explores the history and role of women in the civil rights movement in Derry in 1968, at the start of the Troubles.

Murillo, 33, a Colombian artist with a practice that includes live events, drawing, painting, sculptural installation, video, bookmaking and collaborative projects, is nominated for his participation at the Berlin Biennale and a show called Violent Amnesia at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge. In Berlin he installed industrial ovens to produce sculptures made of corn mixed with clay, which he piled in heaps in an exploration of consumption, labour and sustenance.

Shani, 42, is a self-taught artist. Born in London, she is nominated for shows that include DC: Semiramis at the Tetley in Leeds. She created an alternative universe, a city of women built by women, which contained characters adapted from Christine de Pizan’s 1405 proto-feminist work The Book of the City of Ladies.

The Turner prize leaves London every two years and this year goes to the Margate gallery, regarded as a brilliant example of the power of culture-led regeneration. Since it opened in 2011, the gallery has generated £70m for the local economy and attracted 3.1 million visitors.

All four artists will produce work for the annual Turner prize exhibition, opening in Margate on 28 September. The £25,000 winner will be announced on 3 December.