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Great LezBritain: Our Picks for the Pink List

It’s Pink List time again, and it’s been more exciting than ever because The Independent On Sunday, the British newspaper that compiles the list of the country’s 101 most influential LGBT people, have, for the first time, invited people to send in nominations. These votes will then be considered by the judging panel, which features the likes of DIVA magazine editor Jane Czyzselska, Conservative MP Margot James, Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas and Tamsin Omond, founder of the environmental campaign group Climate Rush.

Last year, there were 31 of our kind on the list, which is still quite a few steps from equality, but this was nine more than in 2009. So, by our reckoning, there should be at least 40 women on this year’s list.

Because we love a vote and writing lists, we’ve combined the two and we’ve written a list of the ten women that we would vote for. This is in no particular order, and we’ve concentrated on women in entertainment because this is an entertainment site. Herein lies it:

Melanie Rickey — Many people believe that Britain’s beloved Queen Of Shops, Mary Portas is the most fashionable lesbian in the land. While Mary cuts a fine gib, we’ve always thought that her wife and Grazia magazine’s fashion editor-at-large has the more coveted wardrobe. And lo and behold, in their first ever joint interview for The Guardian last week, Mel was credited with helping Mary dress in the rather splendid way she does. But her talents don’t end with advice to her spouse: Mel’s fashion blog has become one of the most influential in the UK, featuring everything from Courtney Love, the model Freya, new label campaigns, gorgeous photos and a successful campaign to bring the Alexander McQueen exhibition to the UK. Melanie wasn’t on the Pink List last year, but it would be a crime (against fashion) if she doesn’t make it this year.

Heather Peace — What a year it’s been for Heather Peace. Her sexy, understated performance as DS Sam Murray in Lip Service catapulted her from “that girl from the fire engine show years ago” to lesbian superstar. She used to play gigs for beer money in front of a handful of friends and now girls faint when she takes to the stage at her sold out concerts across the country. To cap it off, she will become the only out actress in a mainstream, primetime television show when her role as a new teacher in drama series Waterloo Road hits our screens in 2012. On a more serious note, by spending time online chatting to fans, taking part in the Stonewall “It Gets Better” campaign and spreading the message that being out, being successful and living a happy life is possible, Heather has also become a beacon of inspiration for many. Last year, she was a respectable number 40 on the Pink List, but we predict she will be somewhat higher this time around.

Stella Duffy — Actress, director, writer, tweeter supreme, Stella Duffy is a woman of many artistic talents. She has been long listed for the Orange Prize twice, last year she was Stonewall’s Writer of the Year for the second time and her recent adaptation of the play Medea was one of the highlights of this year’s Edinburgh Festival. For the Americans that aren’t aware of her work, then we recommend her latest novel Theodora, Actress, Empress, Whore (released two weeks ago in the US). Duffy is also one of our all-time favourite Tweeters, because she shares her many opinions and feelings in 140 characters with simply brilliant execution, particularly whenever Prime Minister David Cameron is on television. She is also an active, outspoken voice campaigning for equality and, along with her wife Shelley Silas (also a writer); she is a patron of Diversity Role Models, a charity that seeks to prevent homophobic bullying in UK schools.

Zoe Lyons — For us, Zoe is consistently the funniest stand-up comedian in the UK. A multi-award winner and nominee, she has also been popping up (not quite consistently enough for our liking) on various TV shows like Mock The Week and The Wright Stuff this year. Her show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe was once again packed every night with lesbians, straight couples, grannies, teenagers, Radio 4 listeners, Sun readers — you know, people who just like to laugh at funny jokes. If you haven’t seen her before, then catch her on the Stand Out comedy tour at various dates across the UK with fellow out comedians Jen Brister and Suzi Ruffell — who will both, no doubt, be future Pink List alumni, too.

Harriet Braun — You may have cast your eye over a show that Harriet wrote and produced last year named Lip Service? Yes, without Harriet, there would have been no DS Murray, no Tess, no Frankie, no shavegate, corpsegate and simply no modern lesbian drama on the BBC. Before Lip Service, Harriet wrote the hugely successful Mistresses, which also featured a little Sapphic loving, and the less successful, but completely brilliant Attachments. Harriet wasn’t on the Pink List last year, but after the massive success of Lip Service and the palpable excitement surrounding its return in 2012, it’s as safe to say she’ll be tickling this year’s list as it is to say that Frankie will have sex with someone in the second season.

Sue Perkins — Sue needs no real introduction. We’ve all loved her since Light Lunch, we still had a healthy appetite for her during Late Lunch, we remained at the table for The Supersizers and The Good Life and now we’re positively ravenous for her on the Great British Bake Off. Whatever delights she offers us next year, we’ll be there. As one of the most famous feeders/lesbians in the country, she’s sure to be near the top of this year’s list. Jessie J — A couple of months ago, the 24-year-old multi-award winning, million selling pop star was on Alan Carr’s Chatty Man show. In response to a question about her bisexuality and dealing with any name-calling, Jessie J retorted that it bothered her not, she had to be honest about her life and anyway, “I prefer to call myself a bush-masher.” Her performance on the show made her the top trend on Twitter for most of the night, and while there were a few “I didn’t know Jessie was gay/bi” messages, there was a distinct lack of care about the status of her sexuality at all. People often criticise the Pink List for being too celeby — and, of course, there are so many incredible unsung heroes who make all of our lives much easier without the general public ever knowing their names — but the importance of the existence of an artist like Jessie J for a younger generation of gay people cannot be underrepresented. We might have come out at 15 if there had been a pop star like her around. As it was, we were pretending to fancy Gary Barlow. Ironically, we now sort of do have a man crush on Gary Barlow, until we get a hold of ourselves and take a proper look at his man hair and his Tory campaigning.

Hope Powell — In 2003, Hope Powell became the first woman to be awarded the UEFA Pro license before becoming the England’s Women’s coach in 1998. With her guidance, the team has qualified for three world cups and in 2009 reached the European Championships final. In the 2011 World Cup, the team played some passes, scored some goals and dribbled to a standard that had the same play been performed by Wayne Rooney, he would have been hailed as a sporting genius and received blanket media coverage. It was once speculated that Powell would become the first women to manage a men’s team — we’d suggest starting with the men’s national side and try to get them all ship shape and into a Championship final.

Clare Balding — Just over a year ago, a columnist in The Sunday Times newspaper “reviewed” Clare’s excellent TV series Britain By Bike by referring to her as a “dyke on a bike.” That very day, Clare joined Twitter to call the journalist a “twat.” When her complaint to the editor received a ridiculous response, she launched a PCC complaint that was rightly upheld and was celebrated by her massive and growing Twitter fanbase. It is fair to say that prior to this point Clare was known as a sports journalist for the BBC. But, by standing up for anyone who has ever been the subject of homophobic abuse and by revealing herself to be wickedly funny through her Tweets, combined with an increased mainstream television and radio work, a lesbian icon was born. Clare was a Pink List judge last year and therefore not eligible for placement. This year, we’d be upset if she doesn’t make the top 10, yes we might have a little cry about it — judge us if you will.

Susan Calman — Since giving up a law degree to take up comedy full-time, the Calmanator has never looked back. She built her routine up at The Stand venue in Glasgow, where she runs a weekly women’s comedy night, but has quickly progressed to radio and TV work. In particular her performances featuring a mix of self-deprecating comedy, political humour and a fondness for dressing up cats on Radio 4’s News Quiz, have made her a series favourite, leading the show’s host, Sandi Toksvig, to say to us that Calman should be the one to replace her on the show whenever she retires. Voting closes at midnight on Sunday 16th October and the full list will be announced on Sunday 23rd October. If you haven’t voted yet, you can do so at the website or email it to: [email protected].

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