As part of the Cardiff Pride: More Than A Month campaign, we attended Pride Cymru in Cardiff and spoke to young people about all things LGBTQ+ related. This blog shares their answers to the question ‘who is your LGBT+ icon?’.
Avery‘s Icon
I think for me, mine would probably be Alan Turing because from a computer science perspective, cracking the enigma in World War II was such a huge achievement. And then afterwards, to go through hormone therapy which eventually drove him to his own suicide is an awful thing to hear about. Knowing that he still worked through all that pain and suffering to try and help the world has a huge impact on me. It’s just a reminder to keep going every now and then.
Sarah‘s Icons
Langston Hughes and Frank O’Hara. They’re old poets when it wasn’t normal to write about gay stuff – they were writing about it when it was like illegal and stuff. They wrote about it very beautifully so yeah. And James Baldwin, another great writer-activist.
Dale Winton! Dale Winton, remember? Supermarket sweep.
Musician-wise, there’s so much good queer cool new music. MUNA – one of my favourite bands. There’s Fletcher, Lady Gaga. It’s never been a better time to be gay, in this country at least. We still have a long way to go in other countries, I think.
Wren’s Icon
I know it’s not really a famous person but my older sister. I’ve got 3 siblings and one of my older sisters came out as gay when she was younger than me still, so I guess that kind of helped me come out to everyone basically. It was much easier when she had done it.
Lizzie’s Icon
Oh damn, that’s a big question. I think like Landon Cider. They’re like a Drag King. So good. Like great activist. So good at the art they produce. Incredible person. So good.
Tezni’s Icon
Probably these guys behind me. These are Deaf Hub Cymru and they are sort of… they’re incredible. They’re here today representing the deaf community and representing those people that, you know, perhaps aren’t familiar with the wider LGBTQ+ community and really opening that up. It’s so great to see them all come together and change perceptions of what people might expect from a deaf person and make people realise that deaf people are, you know, just the same as everyone else. So these guys.
Maddie‘s Icon
In Pride, I saw Justin Drag. He’s like really – he gives a really good message and stuff so yeah.
Lily‘s Icons
I don’t really have any particular celebrities or anything that are an inspiration but a lot of my friends came out before I did and then it just helped me realise.
Echo‘s Icons
For me, it’s Abigail Thorn. She’s a YouTuber and actress. She runs the YouTube channel PhilosphyTube. It deals with a bunch of kinda leftist philosophies on various subjects and how that effects our increasingly right-wing government and world in general.
Overly Sarcastic Productions. One of my favourite YouTube channels. Everyone who works on that is asexual. It’s got nothing to do with their channel. They’re a mythology and history-based channel but also, they’re really queer and they will like include actual bits of interesting queer history. Not just in the last century but also like you know they’ll talk about the Greeks, the Romans, Victorians because people have been gay the whole time! It’s not something that Oscar Wilde started.
Matthew‘s Icon
I’ve got to say as a comic book nerd, I love all the cast of The Wicked and The Divine. It’s a great comic book about God’s that come to earth as pop stars and they have one that’s like a very powerful lesbian David Bowie – that’s the only way that I can describe it. Based on like the Devil, she’s really cool. And yeah, that’s the energy that I wanna channel sometimes.
Molly‘s Icon
Mines really basic – Sarah Paulson!
Nova‘s Icon
It’s a little bit of a random one but Jaiden Animations. I remember a while ago (it was quite a while ago and it’s a bit outdated now), she did a bit about dating and I thought I kind of relate to this a bit. More recently, she came out as both aromantic and asexual – woop woop! Same as me. She is one of the only people with a large following that I can think of on the spot that actually is aro-ace. And for me, that’s just a very important thing.
Darcey‘s Icon
Ooh, I’m not quite sure. There was one person that I saw at the Bristol Pride recently and she was the first Muslim drag queen [Asifa Lahore]. She found that she could express herself just by doing that and being the first person to do that is amazing.
Carenza’s Icon
I think the shows Doctor Who and Torchwood because they were brought back for a reboot by a gay man, Russell T. Davis, and there’s a lot of representation in there, especially in the show Torchwood. There are also aliens in there. It’s like anything is possible and anything is, you know, acceptable in it. I like that.
Abi’s Icon
I’m gonna have to say Kate Bush. I’ve got Kate Bush tattooed on my leg. She’s not even gay though! Kate Bush has done a lot for LGBTQ+ rights though. She has voiced some opinions back in the decades when it wasn’t accepted so, I’m gonna say Kate Bush.
Chloe‘s Icon
Ooh, I’m going to have to go for Ru Paul. I just think he is so fabulous in whatever character he is playing and it’s just always a good time when he is around.
Related Information
Want more from the Cardiff Pride: More Than A Month campaign? Visit the campaign introduction.
Find out more about important LGBTQ+ people throughout history.
Check out TheSprout’s LGBTQ+ information page where you can find loads of useful info on local and national LGBTQ+ support services.
If you’re sharing our posts from the Cardiff Pride: More Than A Month campaign on social media, remember to use the #MoreThanAMonth hashtag and tag us.
