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The Irish poet and novelist, Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (actual spelling!), was born on 16th October 1854 in Dublin. He attended Trinity College in Dublin and then Magdalen College at Oxford to study the "greats," where he developed a taste for the "Aestheticism" art movement of the 19th century, which centred around the aesthetic qualities of art and culture. He published poetry in magazines from the beginning of his university days. After leaving university, he moved to London and published a book called "Poems". This began a long line of literary successes and failures, such as "The Duchess of Padua," "Salomé," "Lady Windermere's Fan," "A Woman of No Importance," and perhaps most famously, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Importance of Being Earnest."

His personal life was quite turbulent. He married Constance Lloyd in 1884, but became enamoured with Robert Ross, a young man who would feature throughout his life. After Wilde's death, Ross purchased all the rights to his works that had been sold off due to bankruptcy and gave themback toOscar's sons.

After meeting Ross, there were a string of male lovers, none more famous perhaps than Lord Alfred Douglas.

Ian McKellen

By Sean Walsh

Born in Burnley, Lancashire on 25th May 1939 he moved to Wigan at the start of the Second World War and then on to Bolton when he lost his mother aged 12. He lost his father, a civil engineer at the age of 25. After his coming out as gay to his stepmother, Gladys McKellen, who was a Quaker, he said, "Not only was she not fazed, but as a member of a society which declared its indifference to people's sexuality years back, I think she was just glad for my sake that I wasn't lying any more". He was knighted in 1991 for his services to the performing arts.

Sir Ian McKellen is one of the most well-known actors in British history. He has had an exemplary career on stage and screen, ranging from Shakespeare, modern theatre, drama, comedy to even playing Magneto in the X-Men series and Gandalf in The Lord of Rings. Over the years he has built up a collection of a great many accolades and awards including Tony, Olivier, and Golden Globe awards.

Sir Ian publicly came out in 1988 on Radio 3 as a direct response to the, then proposed, antiLGBTQ+ Section 28 of the Local Government Bill, as he was debating the legislation with a conservative journalist. He also visited Michael Howard, who was the Environment Secretary at the time and in charge of local government in an effort to get him to change his mind. He did not but asked for his autograph for his children. He said yes, but wrote “F**k Off, I’m Gay!” instead. He is a co-founder of Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity that was founded in 1989 and has grown to be one of the biggest LGBTQ+ charities in the whole of Europe. Again, it was a rallying cry against the Section 28 legislation, and he has said that gay rights is the cause closest to his heart. He also works with age-related charities, Only Make Believe, who put on shows in children’s hospitals in the US as well as independent theatres as well. He is also against nuclear war and is a fundraiser for AIDS causes.

Douglas's creator still used going on, stop him, and left Wilde, spiral for but lost. "offences" declined, him a little 30th November Robert a small transferred own "The tears will mourners mourn." who have the LGBTQ+ vilified

Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, was the of the "Queensbury Rules" of boxing, which are used today. When the Marquess found out what was on, he confronted Oscar. When that didn't seem to him, he arrived at the club that Oscar frequented left the infamous calling card reading "For Oscar posing sodomite. [sic]." This led to a downward for Wilde, who tried to sue the Marquess for libel lost. He would eventually be tried for homosexual "offences" and sentenced to hard labour. His health declined, and he went into exile in France. His wife sent little money, which he spent on alcohol. He died on November 1900 inParis, where he was buried.

Ross commissioned Wilde's tomb, which included compartment for Ross's own ashes, which were transferred there in 1950. The epitaph is from Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" and reads, "And alien will fill for him, Pity's long-broken urn, For his mourners will be outcast men, And outcasts always mourn." His legacy lives on among the millions of people have read his wonderful works, especially those in LGBTQ+ community, who are still repressed and around the world to this day.

By Sean Walsh

Munroe Bergdorf, born in September 1987, is a renowned model, writer, and activist. She was the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK and to be hired by the cosmetics brand L’Oréal. Her achievements are indisputable. Bergdorf has faced criticism for her views on race and gender, but her activism and fight for equality make her an LGBTQ+ icon.

Bergdorf gained public attention in August 2017 when she became the first transgender model to front a L'Oréal campaign in the UK. At the time, she expressed her gratitude, stating, "Thank you L’Oréal Paris for giving me this platform. I hope it reaches another little eight-year-old trans girl and makes her feel a little more hopeful and a little less scared about her future.’ However, just a month later, on 1st September, L'Oréal dropped her from the campaign. This decision was a result of past comments she had made about ‘all white people as a group being brought up racist.’ Bergdorf defended herself, arguing that she was expressing anger and attempting to explain that racism is systemic, extending beyond personal attacks and encompassing the failure to challenge the system itself.

During the international George Floyd protests in June 2020, Bergdorf criticized L'Oréal Paris for posting on Instagram that they stood in solidarity with the Black community, saying that she had never received an apology from them. In

By Haydn Rothwell

response, the company announced the creation of a UK Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board, with Bergdorf as one of its members.

In February 2018, she was appointed as an LGBTQ+ adviser to the Labour Party, which she resigned from the following month after homophobic and misogynistic Tweets resurfaced, for which she apologised. Bergdorf later blamed ‘Conservative media’ for using her as a political pawn to bring down Jeremy Corbyn.

Having been named "Changemaker of the Year" in 2018 by Cosmopolitan UK, she became the first transgender person to feature on the front cover of the magazine with its 50th anniversary issue, which was published on 21st January 2022. In November 2021, Bergdorf was recognised with the Gay Times Honour for British Community Trailblazer at the fifth annual Gay Times Honours celebration.