It's LGBT History Month in the UK and while the country still has some way to go before the LGBT community is free of all the prejudicial shackles of modern society, we're still in a better place than we have ever been before. And when we've got so many iconic LGBT celebrities as role models, things can only get better. These British women are just a few of our LGBT role models.
Cara Delevingne
After making it as a catwalk model, this style queen broke Hollywood - and she's still only 26-years-old. She's cemented herself as a serious actress with appearances in Paper Towns, Suicide Squad and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. She revealed that she was bisexual in 2015, when it was confirmed she was dating musician Annie Clark aka St. Vincent. Most recently she was rumoured to be dating Her Smell co-star Ashley Benson.
Sandi Toksvig
A true British heroine if ever there was one. In 1994, Sandi Toksvig became one of the first celebrity women in modern Britain to come out as gay. She co-founded the Women's Equality Party and took over from Stephen Fry as the presenter of QI in 2016. She currently presents The Great British Bake Off alongside Noel Fielding.
Sue Perkins
Another Great British Bake Off legend, Sue Perkins is best known for her Mel and Sue partnership with Mel Giedroyc. She used to date Rhona Cameron who outed Sue as a lesbian during her appearance on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2002. She has been in a relationship with presenter Anna Richardson since 2014...
Anna Richardson
...Speaking of which, Anna herself is a popular face on the Channel 4 network, having presented shows such as The Sex Education Show, Supersize vs Superskinny, Secret Eaters and Naked Attraction. She identifies as bisexual, and was previously in an 18-year relationship with film director Charles Martin.
Miriam Margolyes
This absolute national treasure is probably most notable these days for her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series. She won a BAFTA Award back in the 90s for her appearance in The Age of Innocence and has also appeared in Blackadder, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and last year had a cameo in Call The Midwife. She became an Australian citizen back in 2013, admitting: "I fell in love with an Australian woman, in case anyone didn't know I was a dyke, and I'm very happy and we've been together since 1968."
Dame Carol Ann Duffy
She's one of Britain's most important poets having been named Poet Laureate back in 2009. This made her not only the first woman to hold the title, but also the first Scottish poet, and the first openly gay or bisexual person to do so. Her work is studied extensively within British schools and some of her most famous collections include the Whitbread Poetry Award-winning Mean Time and the T.S. Eliot Prize-winning Rapture. She has previously had long-term relationships with fellow poets Adrian Henri and Jackie Kay.
Val McDermid
Another iconic writer from the UK, Val McDermid is a Scottish crime writer best known for her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series of gritty novels which were adapted into the popular television show Wire in the Blood starring Robson Green. She has been married to a geography professor named Jo Sharp since 2016 and has previously described herself as a radical feminist.
Nicola Adams
This 36-year-old boxer from Leeds became the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title in 2012 and won gold in the flyweight division in 2012 and 2016. She has also won gold medals at the World Championships, European Games and Commonwealth Games among other major events. She identifies as bisexual and previously dated a female American boxer named Marlen Esparza.
Skin
The lead singer of the British rock band Skunk Anansie has also been such an epic role model for young black women in the UK, but not everyone realises she is also just as important for being an openly bisexual woman. She was in a civil partnership with Christiana Wyly for two years, and went on to marry philanthropist Kimbal Musk last year.
Clare Balding
She's probably one of the most important sports journalists/broadcasters in the UK having been working on TV and radio since the early 90s. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours, and was even awarded a special BAFTA for presenting during the 2012 Olympics. She has entered into a civil partnership with her partner Alice Arnold in 2006, and the pair were married in 2015.
Click here to check out our brand new Instagram page!
Tagged in LGBT