Lesbilicious - the web’s tastiest lesbian magazine

Queer women in the West have never had it so good. Visibility turns the extraordinary simply ordinary, and every woman in the public eye who comes out as lesbian or bisexuality helps thousands of other women to come out too.

From the lonely days of just seeing kd, Martina and Ellen represent our community we now have openly lesbian country singers, newsreaders and Conservative politicians.

But just because more women are coming out doesn’t mean it’s now easy. Playing lesbian is quirky and cool, as fauxmosexual try-hards Katy Perry and Lady Gaga ceaselessly reminds us, but unashamedly being a real lesbian still has a stigma.

There’s still a long way to go, but each woman who comes out of a closet holds the door open for the women behind her.

For this reason we’re running a weekly column to salute the lesbian and bisexual women from the last century who have helped lay the foundations of where we are today.

Some of the women we feature will be famous names, others may be new to you. A few of these women made it to the mainstream, but some never made it, pushed underground instead by a society that was confused and repelled by homosexuality.

But they were stars, they were artists, they were heroines.

We’re paying homage to them, but also to the thousands of nameless, ordinary women who lived fiercely and proudly, and who helped make life better for lesbian and bisexual women today.

The series ‘Lesbian heroines from history’ will begin on Monday 17 May 2010.

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