Maureen Colquhoun, feminist pioneer and the UK’s first out lesbian MP, has died at 92. Colquhoun was a Labour politician, representing Northampton North from 1974 to 1979.
During her time as an MP, she was a prominent campaigner for gender equality, sex worker’s rights and access to abortion. After it was revealed she was in a relationship with Barbara Todd, the publisher of Sappho magazine, multiple efforts were made by party members in her constituency to stop her from running in 1979.
Despite the discrimination she faced for being a lesbian she spoke out in support of LGBTQ+ rights, saying her sexuality had “nothing whatever to do with my ability to do my job as an MP” in a 1977 interview with Gay News.