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Great LezBritain: Celebrating our favorite lesbian and bisexual British ladies

“Great LezBritian” is a fortnightly stroll through the very best of British lesbo-centric entertainment and culture. Plus there will be some jolly good interviews with the top ladies who are waving the flag for gay UK.

A couple of columns ago we wrote about the British women we wish were gay, which gave rise to much debate and informed us that our readers lust after and loathe Cheryl Cole in equal amounts. We decided that in this column we’d like to celebrate the British ladies we’re glad actually are gay or bisexual, which has been an unexpectedly tricky task.

Once again we sent out a Tweet asking you to suggest your favourite Britbians, and as the land that proffered Skins, Tipping the Velvet and Bad Girls, we were certain that Britain would have so many options that we’d be tossing second tier choices out of the list as if we were at a welly winging contest.

Yet there was a distinct lack of assortment in the answers we received. This, we concluded, is a bit of a worry and suggests that Britain isn’t the rich lesbian tapestry we would have hoped for in this day and age. But, not to be beaten, we whittled down the many nominations for Sue Perkins into one place and gathered a list of a further nine entries.

Most of the ladies on our list are there because they have carved out a hugely successful career while openly living their lives as gay or bisexual. British tabloids still find it rather difficult to discuss a story concerning a gay woman in society without their sexual orientation being put before their name. Yet these ten tend not to be drawn into much discussion about their sexuality because their career achievements more readily define them. While this might mean that some are not as well known as being gay-dies, we think it’s positive that they are seen as actors, writers and politicians rather than “lesbian actors,” etc.

There is one worry about our list of lady lovers, in that we could not bring to mind one distinguished lesbian under 30-years old. So where is the younger lesbian contingency hiding? Who will the ladies on our list pass the rainbow coloured baton onto? It’s an uncomfortable thought that the future of British lesbian visibility may lay barren amidst our green, green grasses of heterosexuality.

But until then, let’s enjoy the ones we have …

As Sandi Toksvig is still very much head and shoulders above anyone else in Britain, she is not on this list and has a special title of her own as the UK’s King Lesbian Trailblazer. Other special mentions for those that didn’t quite make our list of 10: Sam Fox (’80s pop star and glamour girl), Claire Balding (BBC Sports presenter), Dawn Airey (Head Of Channel 5), Phyllida Lloyd (director of Mama Mia the stage musical and film), Pam St. Clements (Pat Butcher, Eastenders), Jeanette Winterson (writer), Melanie Rickey, (Fashion Editor at large, Grazia magazine), Charlotte Mendelson (writer), Joanna Briscoe (writer).

Skin — Music

The emergence of nineties Brit Pop was announced by a chorus of mostly skinny white boys wearing vintage t-shirts and sporting too much hair, typically strumming guitars whilst smoking a fag. One of the few female fronted bands in this era was Skunk Anansie, with Skin at the helm – a bald black woman who never shied away from her bisexuality and as such it never became an issue.

She brought much needed diversity to the indie pack, she had ripe articulation, sang at points with angered political conviction and at others with a tender vulnerability that few of her male counterparts could even attempt to muster. The band split in 2001, but like all good indie bands that need the money, they reformed for a greatest hits tour last year, giving us all another chance to wallow in the deliciousness of tracks like “Weak,” “Hedonism,” “Twisted” and “Secretly.”

Mary Portas – Fashion

The most respected woman in British fashion retail is Mary Portas. Responsible for the success of some of the country’s biggest brands including Harvey Nichols and Top Shop, she found fame relatively recently with her BBC2 series Mary, Queen Of Shops. The show basically sees Mary do for fashion boutiques, what Gordon Ramsay does for restaurants in Kitchen Nightmares. But unlike Ramsay, Mary manages to do this while looking effortlessly fabulous, and without swearing at, or ridiculing the people whose businesses she is there to save.

The new season of the show kicks off tonight at 9pm on BBC2, and this time around Mary is spreading her expertise to include all kinds of retail outlets, including a bakery that looks like it has been selling the same cakes since 1932.

Last week, Mary married the equally fabulous Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor of Grazia, the country’s number one weekly fashion magazine. Suffice it to say, there were no flat shoes at this civil partnership and the first photos of their dresses, designed by Antonio Berardi, were salivated over by the fashion elite – have a look at Melanie’s blog to see the photos of what she describes as “the best day of our life.”

Fiona Shaw – Actress

While Shaw is not on record anywhere saying the immortal words “Yes, I am,” she has consistently appeared on the Independent On Sunday’s Pink List, which requires prior approval from the listees before being published. The Irish actress is arguably one of the most respected thespians of her generation. She is at her best when working with out theatre director Deborah Warner, which includes leading roles in Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children and The Good Woman of Szechuan. However, despite Shaw’s critically acclaimed roles in the theatre, we must admit that, to us, she will always be in equal parts Miss Elspeth Lomax from Three Men and A Little Lady and Harry Potter’s Aunt Petunia.

Jane Hill – Newsreader

In the UK, our newsreaders must present themselves with a reassuring, intellectual and measured sensibility – unless of course you are Sky News’ Kay Burley. The faces and voices of our presenters are watched and listened to with an often unregistered amount of intensity everyday. So when Jane Hill, one of BBC News’ most senior broadcasters, casually mentioned her girlfriend in an in-house staff magazine, there was a concern that she could be newly represented in a way that was totally irrelevant to her day job. But, barely a viewer battered an eyelid and apart from a couple of days of press mentions, it was business as usual for Hill. When we think back to the days when newspapers were threatening to out Sandi Toksvig in the ’80s, this is certainly a hoorah for progress.

Saffron Burrows – Actress

Saffron Burrows is not just a pretty face, although of course she is a very pretty face. She first came to mainstream attention with her role in Circle Of Friends in 1995 and can currently be seen in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. As well as acting, she was the Vice President of the National Civil Rights Movement for a number of years and a campaigner for disabled rights and equality.

She confirmed her bisexuality in an interview in 1999 and was named the 90th most influential gay person in the UK in The Independent On Sunday’s Pink List in 2006. She was linked to Fiona Shaw when they played lovers in the National Theatre’s production of Jeanette Winterson‘s The PowerBook, although neither actress ever confirmed the relationship.

Sarah Waters – Writer

She has been wearing the crown as king of lesbian fiction since Tipping the Velvet was published in 1998 and arguably became the most important piece of historical gay fiction of all time. But because her writing pulls all readers into intense, rich and atmospheric worlds, she has successfully managed to drop the “gay writer” tag to simply become one of the UK’s most popular authors. She is one of a very few number of writers whose books are not just slotted into the LGBT section at the back of the bookshop, but are firmly on the bestseller piles.

Carol Ann Duffy – Poet Laureate

Poet Laureate is the highest accolade that any British poet can be offered, as it has the alternative job title of Private Poet to The Queen. Carol Ann Duffy became the first woman, the first Scot and the first openly bisexual person ever to be chosen for the position when she took over from Andrew Motion in 2009. She was close to being offered the position in 1999 but said she would not have accepted it then because she was in a relationship with fellow poet Jackie Kay and would not have wanted a media furor to have ensued.

When she did bag the job ten years later there was thankfully no furore, just positive recognition of the fact that her appointment was historically significant. Since accepting her role she has penned a host of works about society’s happenings. Our personal favourite is Achilles about the injury that has prevented David Beckham from playing in the 2010 Football World Cup.

Sue Perkins – Broadcaster

Miss Perkins was by far the numero uno choice from our twitter poll, by a lesbian voting mile. She first turned up on British screens as part of a presenting duo with Mel Giedroyc on Light Lunch back in the late ’90s. As fans of the show, we both often feigned illness or university study time to stay home to watch the wonderful tomfoolery that ensued on a daily basis.

Although many a keen lady-loving viewer suspected Sue’s batting team preference during this era, it wasn’t until her ex-girlfriend, Rhona Cameron, outed her a few years later on the reality programme, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here that we knew for sure that she was.

Since then, Sue’s career has been nothing short of marvelous and she seems to be walking in the footsteps of Toksvig by becoming an integral part of the BBC, appearing regularly on panel shows like the News Quiz and fronting her own shows such as the Supersizer series with Giles Coren.

Margot James – Politician

Despite our bitter dismay at the Conservative government’s return to power, in part due to their lack of progressive views and dismal voting records on gay issues, there is at least some glimmer of hope in the newly elected Margot James. James is only the second ever out lesbian in parliament and lives with her TV presenter partner Jay Hunt who you may be familiar with from BBC Three’s Spendaholics.

Considering one of James’ Tory colleagues thinks you can “pray away the gay,” it will be interesting to see what influence, if any, she has in her party’s future stance on queer matters.

Eileen Gallagher/Ann McManus/Maureen Chadwick — TV executives

We are cheating here but it was impossible to pick just one of these wonderful ladies. Popular British television can often be split into two types; shows that grittily represent the thrills and ills of our society and those that border on unwatchable pie-throwing absurdity.

Never had a show merged both genres successfully until these three women (and Brian Park) knocked heads and crafted alchemy genius in the form of Bad Girls. With the rather lovely added bonus of characters Nikki Wade and Helen Stewart.

Crazy in hindsight, but the trio was advised after series one to drop the Helen Stewart character as the TV big wigs thought she wasn’t capturing the nation enough. So much heartfelt applause goes to them for sticking to their guns and developing one of the most beautiful love stories to have ever existed on our screens. A special mention must also go to the frankly mental Footballers’ Wives, with Hazel Bailey the lesbian ball-breaking sports agent as one its highlights.

So what do you think ladies? Are we missing anyone? And can anyone think of someone younger than 30 that we could have included?

“Great LezBritain” authors Sarah, a Londoner, and Lee, a Glaswegian, met in a gay discotheque one bleak mid winter, eight years ago and have been shacked up together ever since. When not watching Tipping The Velvet, they find time to write, run a PR company, DJ at their own club nights and love a bit of jam on toast. Follow them on Twitter at greatlezbritain.

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