It’s LGBT History month! As an ally, Goodfind wants to share some awesome change-makers, historical and modern, who didn’t let their sexual orientation stop them from doing extraordinary things - and who helped pave the way to a better future for the LGBT community.

Why is LGBT History Month celebrated in February?

In the UK, we celebrate LGBT history in February because it coincides with the abolition of section 28, a (bullsh*t) piece of legislation that prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality”, in 2003 - which is shockingly recent. Started by School’s Out UK, LGBT History Month is an important time to recognise and raise awareness about the history of the LGBT movement.

Check out our page of LGBT owned and supported brands, or keep reading for a few awesome pioneers we wanted to share with you:

Roberta Cowell (1918 - 2011)

Roberta Cowell was a badass all around - she was a British racing driver, fighter pilot during the second world war, and the first person in the country to undergo gender reassignment surgery and be declared legally female.

Underappreciated during her inspiring life, Cowell battled through discrimination and abuse in order to solidify her identity, withdrawing from public life in the ’70s and passing away in 2011.

Alan Turing (1912 - 1954)

Despite literally inventing the computer to crack the German Enigma code during World War 2, Turing was a homosexual – and therefore, a criminal. It’s hard to imagine that this war hero was forced to undergo hormone therapy to avoid prison and eventually driven to suicide as a result, but Turing’s sacrifice helped pave the way to freedom for the LGBTQ+ community. The ‘Alan Turing Law’ was passed in 2017, pardoning gay men who had previously been convicted. He is now also the face of the £50 note.

Jan Morris (1926 - 2020)

Author, Historian, Transgender pioneer: Jan Morris lived an incredible life. After being denied gender reassignment surgery in the U.K for refusing to divorce her wife, Morris underwent the surgery in Morocco in 1972. Conundrum, 1974, the first novel published under Morris’s new name, became one of the first autobiographical pieces to discuss a personal gender reassignment. Morris and her wife were legally reunited in 2008 under a civil partnership.

Allan Horsfall (1927 - 2012)

Often called the grandfather of the modern LGBTQ+ movement, Allan Horsfall was a local councillor and prominent campaigner for LGBTQ rights, founding the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in 1964. This organisation helped bring about the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 and played a role in many other public LGBTQ demonstrations, including the first mass coming-out in the UK with over 100 participants.

Nicola Adams (b. 1982)

Nicola Adams is the first female boxer to win an Olympic title and was also the first woman to win gold at the Olympics. Adams’s habit of setting record standards doesn’t end with her sporting talents, either; in 2020, she became the first contestant on Strictly Come Dancing to dance with a same sex partner, saying “It’s really good to be able to show diversity and for the younger generation, as well, to be able to see someone from the LGBT community”. We couldn’t agree more!

Lady Phyll (b. 1974)

Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah is amongst the most influential modern pioneers of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2005, she founded Black Pride UK, the first QTIPOC LGBTQ+ event in the UK and Europe, an organisation of which she is now executive director. In 2018, the event had over 7,500 attendees. In 2016, Opoku-Giymah was offered an MBE in recognition of her amazing achievements, but publicly refused, stating “I cannot accept something I don’t believe in. The legacy of colonialism is toxic and continues today.” She is also the executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust.

These awesome people are perfect examples of why being who you are should never get in the way of progress - and why should it? Get out there and show your beautiful self off to the world, and never apologise for it!

Words by Emily Weedon