Lichfield Pride Flash Weekend

Marsha was one of the most prominent figures of the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. She was an important advocate for the homeless LGBTQ+ youth and those affected by HIV and AIDs and gay and transgender rights.

Marsha was on the front lines with the resistance at The Stonewall Inn and supposedly threw the first brick against the police in the raid. The first Gay Pride Parade took place a year later and has been celebrated every year since.

A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia was a tireless advocate and fought against the exclusion of transgender people, especially trans people of colour, from the larger movement of gay rights.

A good friend to Marsha (who felt like a Mother to her), Sylvia was with her at The Stonewall Inn and said “whilst I did not throw the first Molotov, I did throw the second”. She refused to go home and said “I’m not missing a minute of this - it’s the revolution.”.

A English mathematician and logician, and the pioneering father of computer science. Alan invented the bomba, a machine that could run through billions of possible keys and narrow it down to a handful to be used alongside the Engima machine in WWII.

After the war Alan was arrested for gross indecency after admitting to being in a relationship with another man.

In 2014 he was granted a rare royal pardon for his ‘crimes’.

Oscar was an Irish author, poet and playwright. He became one of the first, and certainly most famous people convicted under the UK’s ‘Gross Indecency’ laws and given its harshest sentence - two years hard labour. He died a few years after his release. While he never apologised for his relationships, in fact he defended them beautifully in court. He didn’t quite identify as homosexual believing instead that he was imprisoned for being an artist and a nonconformist.

Frida is a Mexican painter best known for her many portraits, self portraits and works inspired by nature and Mexico. The same passions that helped Frida become a great artist are reflected in her many love affairs. She is considered a queer icon due to her open bisexuality and gender non conformity.

Virginia was an English write and one of the most influential 20th century modernist authors. Her life and work are deeply intertwined with queer history, particularly through her relationships with women and her exploration of gender and sexuality in her writing. Her novel, Orlando, inspired by her affair with Vita Sackville-West, is a landmark in queer literature.

Stormé was a gender non conforming American known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was the spark that ignited the Stonewall uprising. She was known as the ‘guardian of lesbians in the Village’ and when asked what pronouns she preferred she said “Whatever makes YOU feel most comfortable”.

Justin was a ground breaking English footballer in 1981 when he became the country’s most  expensive black player with a £1m move to Nottingham Forest. In 1990 he stunned the football would when he told the newspapers he was gay. Three decades on and he remains the only male footballer to reveal his sexuality while playing professionally in the top tiers.

GaGa is a bisexual American singer songwriter with a long and impactful history of supporting the LGBTQ+ community through her music, activism and philanthropy. She has been credited with increasing visibility and representation for the Queer community in mainstream pop culture.

Freddie Mercury was a British singer songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead singer and pianist of the band Queen. Whilst her never formally ‘came out’, his personal life, romantic relationships and stage person point to a queer identify with his relationships with both me and women strongly suggest bisexuality.

Chappell Roan is a lesbian American singer songwriter whose music and public persona have become synonymous with unapologetic queer expression. Her debut album ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ reflects a journey and themes of self discovery, queer love and liberation.

Orville Peck is an openly gay South African award winning country music singer songwriter and actor. While his masked persona creates a sense of mystery, he is open about his sexuality and has spoken about its influence on his music and career.

Lily Savage, the drag persona or Paul O’Grady, played a significant role in queer history by bringing drag into the British mainstream and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. Her presence on television, particularly Blankety Blank, normalised drag and queer culture for a wider audience.  She was a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, including raising money for Stonewall’s campaign for an equal age of consent.

RuPaul, the popular host of RuPaul’s Drag Race, has forged a successful career spanning decades in the music and entertainment industries. Following a successful music career, RuPaul launched his game show and has since became an international success bringing drag culture into the mainstream.

Elliot Page is an American trans actor who has significantly impacted queer history through his public coming out as gay in 2014, followed by his announcement as a transgender man in 2020 and his subsequent advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. He is a prominent figure in the transmasculine community and has used his platform to promote visibility, representation and acceptance.

Best known for her roles on X-Files and Sex Education, Gillian Anderson is a British-American actress that has become iconic for being many people’s gay awakening. Although she has said she is an ‘actively heterosexual woman’ she has also had relationships with women before and would be open in the future.

Kristen Stewart is an American actress and filmmaker her rose to fame for her role as Bella Swan in Twilight. She has publicly embraced her queer identify and has sought out queer roles in films in more recent years.

Bella Ramsey is a non binary English actor that rose to fame in Game of Thrones and more recently, The Last of Us. They have spoken about the importance of authentic queer representation in media.

Billie Eilish is an American singer songwriter who came out as queer in 2024 and is best known for her Barbie movie soundtrack ‘What was I made for?’

Andrew is an openly gay Irish actor known for his roles on stage and screen, most notably, Fleabag. He has spoken about the harmful impact of assuming everyone is straight, and how that affected him as a young person.

George was an English singer songwriter and producer who is regarded as a pop culture icon. His public outing came after an arrest for engaging in a lewd act on an undercover police officer in LA. This event, whilst initially traumatic, became a catalyst for his public declaration of being GAY and his song ‘Outside’ directly addressed the incident (featuring himself dressed as a LAPD officer) and celebrated his freedom.

Trixie and Katya are an American popular comedy duo comprising of drag queens from RuPaul’s drag race.

Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. She is known for her lyric poetry and regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Her poetry offers glimpses into female same sex desire and the terms ‘sapphic’ and ‘lesbian’ are derived from her name and home.

Elton John is a British singer songwriter who is a prominent figure in LGBTQ+ history for his openness about his sexuality and activism for LGBTQ+ rights. He established the Elton John AIDS Foundation and alongside his husband, are patrons of Queer Britain - a UK museum dedicated to preserving LGBTQ+ history.