Luchia Fitzgerald, 74, is a renowned lesbian activist and credited with creating the first women’s refuge outside of London.But during the late 1960s, she was almost forced into having a lobotomy to ‘cure’ her sexuality following a run in with the police.Just a teenager at the time, she had been living homeless in Manchester after arriving in the city in 1961.
She had come across a stolen bicycle and used it to get home, resulting in her being stopped by the police.Due to her young age, she was assigned a social worker, who noted that she was suffering from severe depression.