Woman gay

  Claiming our Past - Celebrating our Present - Creating our Future  

The 1st of February marks the start of LGBT+ History Month, a key period in the wider LGBT+ visibility calendar.

And if you ever need inspiration, remember the women who came before you and how they turned their dreams into change.

Your story matters. When police arrested her repeatedly for wearing men's clothing, Nancy taught herself the law and challenged the system.

Her bravery helped change the law and protect queer people in Los Angeles — and her story reminds us that standing up for yourself can create real change.

Notable Achievement: Fighting and overturning discriminatory laws against gender nonconformity.

Learn More: The Chicana butch lesbian who defied the LAPD – and won: ‘I couldn’t be someone else’

Margaret Cho (1968 - Present)

Field: Comedy, Acting, Activism

Margaret Cho is a Korean-American comedian, actress, and LGBTQIA+ activist known for her fearless and hilarious stand-up comedy.

Lorraine Hansberry (1930 - 1965)

Field: Playwriting, Activism

Lorraine Hansberry made history as the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway.

Prevalence of sexual orientation across 28 nations and its association with gender equality, economic development, and individualism. Sappho: Greek lyrical poet (7th-6th Century BCE)  

"Someone will remember us I say
even in another time." - Sappho

Sappho was a lyrical poet who lived between the 7th and 6th centuries BCE on the island of Lesbos, Greece.

Sappho is widely regarded as one of the ‘original icons’ for many queer people (those who identify as non-heterosexual or as outside the traditional norms of the gender spectrum) and gave rise to the common term, ‘lesbian’. The specificity of women’s sexual response and its relationship with sexual orientations: A review and ten hypotheses.

And you can do the same.

Whether you want to write stories, lead marches, create art, or change laws, your voice matters. Here are several hypotheses ordered from least to most likely, according to my understanding of the literature.

1. (Savin-Williams)

Bottom Line

Although I can’t tell you with certainty how many not-totally-straight-but-identifying-as-straight women there are, it’s likely, at the present moment, to be higher than the rate among men and lower in older generations.

The stigma created around being LGBTQ+ in sport and the pressure on those who are publicly ‘out’ has created the idea that the industry is an unwelcoming environment. Let their stories inspire you to dream big and be fearless in chasing your goals.

Marsha P. Johnson (1945 - 1992)

Field: Activism

Marsha P.

Johnson, a Black transgender woman and drag queen, was one of the most important figures in the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, a major event that sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Where Global Pride Month in June provides a platform and series of opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community to come together in celebration, LGBTQ+ History Month centres the conversation on those who paved the way for LGBT+ rights and equality, who fought for self-expression, and who catalysed change locally, throughout the community and internationally.

With so little to go on, studying Sappho’s work requires substantial “reading between the lines” around the reality of being an LGB+ woman at this time in history.

Yet, this is precisely what makes her existence and work so key to the modern queer story – there have always been those who attempt to debate and deny the existence of queer people throughout history, and Sappho’s work has long stood against such debate due to the explicitness of her admiration and feelings for other women.

Billie Jean King: sportswoman and activist (1943-present)  

Billie Jean King, born in 1943, is a tennis champion and social activist.