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Georgina Beyer
1957, Wellington, New Zealand
- The first openly transgender woman to be elected mayor, and the first to be elected as a Member of Parliament
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Katharine Lee Bates
- Poet and writer, best remembered for the patriotic anthem 'America the Beautiful'
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Josephine Baker
1906, Missouri, USA - 1975, Paris, France
- Singer, dancer and actress, whose performances at the Folies Bergère in Paris made her an icon of the Jazz Age
- Aided the French Resistance during WWII, for which she was awarded the Croix de guerre
- A dedicated supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, who spoke alongside Martin Luther King and wrote articles about her own experience of racism in the USA
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Cazuza
1958, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 1990, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Brazilian singer and songwriter, and frontman of the rock band Barão Vermelho
- By speaking publicly about his AIDS diagnosis, he helped to change public attitudes to HIV/AIDS in Brazil
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Freddie Mercury
1946, Sultanate of Zanzibar - 1991, London, UK
- Legendary frontman of the rock band Queen
- Writer of many of Queen’s most famous songs, including ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. Posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat
1960, New York City, USA - 1988, New York City, USA
- Came to fame as half of SAMO, a graffiti duo who worked in downtown Manhattan
- An important figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement, his art was exhibited alongside works by Andy Warhol, and purchased by many celebrities including David Bowie and Debbie Harry
- His painting 'Untitled' sold at auction for $110,500,000 in 2017 - a record for a work by an American artist
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Oscar Wilde
1854, Dublin, Ireland - 1900, Paris, France
- Playwright, poet, and author of the novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'; he is also famous for his many witty and humorous quotes
- One of the leading figures of the 'Aesthetic Movement', which influenced British art, literature and fashion in the late 19th century
- Convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour, about which he wrote the deeply moving poem 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'
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Elizabeth Kerekere
1966, Gisborne, New Zealand
- New Zealand politician, activist and scholar, whose research focuses on Māori art and culture
- She identifies as takatāpui, a Māori word meaning a devoted partner of the same sex. She founded the Tīwhanawhana Trust as a place for takatāpui to tell their own stories and build their community
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Mahmud of Ghazni
971, Samanid Empire - 1030, Ghaznavid Empire
- The first major ruler to give himself the title of Sultan
- Ruled over a military empire that included present-day Afghanistan and the surrounding area
- Awarded the throne of Lahore to his lover, Malik Ayaz (pictured here on the right)
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Anne Lister
1791, West Yorkshire - 1840, Russian Empire
- English landowner, whose home, Shibden Hall, is now a museum
- Her diaries, written partly in code, cover her everyday life, from her management of the family estate to her relationships with women. A project is now underway to decode and digitise the diaries.
- Her life was dramatised in the BBC TV series 'Gentleman Jack' in 2019
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John Hervey
1696 - 1743
- English courtier, political writer and memoirist; the eldest son of the Earl of Bristol
- At one time one of the most powerful people in England; his memoirs give a remarkable account of life at court and were too scandalous to publish until 1848
- Noted for his androgynous appearance and affairs with both men and women, one of his friends remarked that there were three sexes: 'men, women, and Herveys'
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Frida Kahlo
1907, Mexico City, Mexico - 1954, Mexico City, Mexico
- Artist whose work comprised elements of surrealism and Mexican folk art
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Simon Nkoli
1957, Soweto, South Africa - 1998, Johannesburg, South Africa
- An anti-apartheid campaigner from an early age, he stood trial with 21 other activists in the Delmas Treason Trial
- With Beverley Palesa Ditsie, organised the first Pride parade in South Africa in 1990
- Campaigned successfully for the inclusion of protection against discrimination in the South African Bill of Rights
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E.M. Forster
1879, London, UK - 1970, Coventry, UK
- One of England's greatest novelists, his works include 'A Room With A View', 'Howards End', 'A Passage To India' and 'Maurice'
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Tove Jansson
1914, Helsinki, Finland - 2001, Helsinki, Finland
- Writer and artist famous for creating the Moomins
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Sappho
c.630 BCE, Lesbos, Greece - c.570 BCE, Greece
- One of the best-known lyric poets of Ancient Greece
- Her surviving works include a number of love poems to women, and the term 'lesbian' is derived from her birthplace, the island of Lesbos
- There are no known contemporary representations of Sappho - the painting here is an imaginary depiction of Sappho and the poet Erinna by the Victorian artist Simeon Solomon
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Harry Allen
1882 - 1922, Seattle, Washington
- In his own words: “I did not like to be a girl; did not feel like a girl, and never did look like a girl. So […] I conceived the idea of making myself a man.”
- Worked in numerous jobs including ranch hand, bronco buster, and bartender; and became infamous as an outlaw wanted for bootlegging, vagrancy and other offenses
- Openly and unapologetically transgender, he was a popular subject for the newspapers during his lifetime, with several articles focusing on his reputation as a heartbreaker
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Leslie Cheung
1956, Kowloon, British Hong Kong - 2003, Hong Kong
- A hugely popular singer and actor, he released 40 albums and appeared in 56 films during his career. He is particularly recognised as a pioneer of the Cantopop genre
- Also well-known as a philanthropist, supporting many causes including children's welfare and support for the victims of the Taiwan earthquake,
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1840, Russian Empire - 1893, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Composer of many much-loved classical works, he is best known today for his ballets, including The Nutcracker and Swan Lake
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Hans Christian Andersen
1805, Kingdom of Denmark–Norway - 1875, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Best known for writing some of the world's most famous fairy tales, including 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Ugly Duckling'
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James Baldwin
1924, Harlem, New York City, USA - 1987, Alpes-Maritimes, France
- Novelist, essayist, and playwright, whose works included 'Giovanni's Room' and 'Notes of a Native Son'
- His novel 'If Beale Street Could Talk' was adapted into a feature film in 2018
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Billie Holiday
1915, Pennsylvania, USA - 1959, Maryland, USA
- One of the most famous jazz singers in history, her songs included 'Summertime' and 'Strange Fruit'
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Roger Casement
1864, Dublin, Ireland - 1916, Pentonville Prison, England
- Author of the 'Casement Report' into human rights abuses in the Belgian Congo, which contributed to the end of the regime
- Campaigner for the rights of indigenous people in Peru, for which he was awarded a knighthood
- Executed by the British for his role in the Easter Rising
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Audre Lorde
1934, New York City, USA - 1992, Virgin Islands, USA
- In her own words: “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet"
- Her writings on race, class, age, sex, sexuality and disability have had a lasting influence of intersectional feminist thought
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Claude McKay
1889, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica - 1948, Illinois, USA
- Writer and poet best known for the novel Home to Harlem
- His journalism and poetry was published in Sylvia Pankhurst's newspaper the Workers' Dreadnought
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Gad Beck
1923, Berlin, Germany - 2012, Berlin, Germany
- In spite of the obvious dangers he himself faced as a gay Jewish man, he remained in Berlin throughout WWII, providing food and shelter to Jews trying to escape the country
- His autobiography, 'An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin', gives a fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking account of his early life
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Manvendra Singh Gohil
1965, Rajasthan, India
- The first openly gay prince in the modern world
- Founder of the Lakshya Trust, a community-based charity dedicated to HIV/AIDS education and prevention
- Opened his 15-acre palace grounds to help house vulnerable LGBT people who have been disowned by their families
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King Edward II
1284, Gwynedd, Wales - 1327, Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England
- Crowned King of England in 1307
- Struggled throughout his reign to assert his authority over the powerful barons of the time, and was ultimately deposed by the order of his estranged wife, Isabella of France
- His life and death are the subject of Christopher Marlowe's play 'Edward II', which unusually for an Elizabethan play depicts the king's relationships with his male favourites in a sympathetic light
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Bayard Rustin
1912, Pennsylvania, USA - 1987, New York, USA
- Leading figure in the American Civil Rights movement
- A dedicated pacifist from a Quaker family, he significantly influenced Martin Luther King's commitment to non-violent protest
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Violette Morris
1893 - 1944
- A gifted and versatile athlete, she competed in numerous sports and won medals at the Women's World Games and the Women's Olympiad, before being banned from competing for violating 'moral standards'
- Also achieved success as a racing driver, winning the Bol d'Or 24 hour car race
- Assassinated by members of the French Resistance, following (unproven) rumours that she was a Nazi spy
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Le Chevalier d’Eon
1728, Tonnerre, France - 1810, London, UK
- Soldier, diplomat and spy, whose androgynous appearance famously allowed her to assume both male and female disguises in their espionage work
- Living as a man for much of her adult life, she adopted a female identity permanently in later life; although she continued to wear the Cross of St Louis (awarded for bravery during her military service) over her dresses
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Vernon Lee
1856, France - 1935
- Best known today for her ghost stories, she was described in her own time as "the greatest [...] of modern exponents of the supernatural in fiction"
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Dong Xian
23 BCE - 1 BCE
- Han dynasty politician who rapidly rose to power at least in part due to his relationship with Emperor Ai
- In one famous story, the Emperor woke to find Dong Xian asleep on his sleeve. Rather than wake him, he instead cut off the sleeve. This gave rise to a Chinese term for homosexuality, duanxiu zhi pi , or 'the passion of the cut sleeve'
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