Meet the gamechanger blazing a trail for LGBTQIA women and non-binary people

As Lesbian Visibility Week 2025 unfolds, DIVA Magazine is proud to once again shine a light on the brilliance, resilience and power of LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people. The DIVA Power List is a cornerstone of this celebration – a moment to honour 100 trailblazers who inspire us all.

Lesbian Visibility Week is a time for us all to stand a little taller. Too often the stories and achievements of LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people are overlooked, forgotten, or erased. For decades, the history of the struggles and the successes have gone unrecorded, even as women have been shaping culture, building families, leading movements and changing lives. It’s long past time to celebrate that legacy as well as the vibrant future.

To all LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people, we celebrate you. You are seen, you are valued, and you belong.

Aderonke Apata is a Nigerian-born LGBTQIA+ activist and barrister who founded the African Rainbow Family. After leaving Nigeria due to persecution about her sexuality, she secured asylum in the UK after a 13-year battle. After starting her formal legal training in 2018, she was called to the bar in 2022.

This is her statement: “I am deeply honoured and truly humbled to be included on the top 100 DIVA Magazine’s DIVA Power List 2025, celebrating the incredible contributions of LGBTQIA women and non-binary people.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to Linda Riley, Nancy Kelley, Roxy Bourdillon, the DIVA Magazine team and all involved in curating this powerful platform that continues to uplift, recognise, and amplify voices across our beautifully diverse community.

This recognition means so much – not just to me personally, but to all those who have walked with me, supported me, and shared in the journey for justice, equality and visibility. Being part of this year’s list reaffirms the importance of standing in our truth and continuing the work to ensure everyone, regardless of identity or background, feels seen and valued.

I am grateful for this honour and for your continued commitment to celebrating those who lead with love, resilience, and purpose.

Congratulations to everyone on the list.”

Alice B Toklas

Alice Babette Toklas was born in San Francisco on 30 April 1877, the first child and only daughter of a family of merchants. Alice became the lover and life partner of Gertrude Stein.

Neither Gertrude or Alice felt they could fulfil the roles of wife or mother that were prescribed by society. Both had unrequited feelings for other women that exacerbated their sense of isolation from others.

Stein was the first to break away, joining her brother Leo first in London in 1902, then Paris in 1903, residing in a flat at 27 Rue de Fleurus in the Montparnasse district. Joining a community of artists, writers, and intellectuals seeking to redefine the arts, Stein tentatively began to develop her own distinctive style. Toklas moved into the flat in 1910, Leo moved out, and a legendary partnership was born.

The two women turned their Parisian home into an important artistic and literary salon for almost thirty years, where they collected art and entertained Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, Anais Nin and many others.

Toklas kept the household running smoothly, typed all of Stein’s work, helped to publicise and publish her writing. When Stein decided to write her memoirs in 1933, she wrote about herself through the voice of her closest companion, naming the book The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas.

The two survived World War II in France, but Stein died of stomach cancer on 27 July 1946.  Toklas only began to write after Stein’s death, producing The Alice B Toklas Cookbook in 1954 and What Is Remembered in 1963. She died on 7 March 1967. The two women are buried side by side in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Alice B Toklas was companion to Gertrude Stein
She was so much more – her editor,
Her lover, her muse, her director,
Translator, gardener and cook,
Inspiration for her book.
Alice B Toklas with gentle care
Stood by Gertrude, a presence rare.
Two women met in a fateful embrace
Alice and Gertrude, a love full of grace.

LGBTQ+ Extra Care Housing Scheme – Community Update

The Russell Road Extra Care Scheme will look to increase the affordable housing opportunities for older people to move into high quality accommodation, with flexible care and support services available to meet changing needs encouraging independent living.

The residents will be required to be aged 55 years or over, with the majority of residents being members of the LGBTQ+ community from Manchester.

The final proposals will deliver 80 one- and two-bedroom social rented apartments for older people in a brick building of four to five storeys. The low-carbon scheme will include shared communal facilities including lounges and treatment rooms and landscaped gardens.

Community Update – April 2025

Work continues to progress since our last update as we work towards the start of construction works on the ‘first of a kind’ purpose-built majority LGBTQ+ Extra Care social housing scheme in Whalley Range.

Great Places and our contractor Rowlinson Construction have completed the initial preparatory site works at Russell Road and can now confirm that contracts have now been officially signed and Rowlinson has taken possession of the site to facilitate construction.

Our co-production work with the Community Steering Group (CSG) continues and the group have been involved in the selection of an interior designer for the scheme. We had a great tender process for the interior designer, eventually arriving at two finalists who presented to the CSG their vision for Russell Road, and we are pleased to announce that we have selected Studio Henderson. The design practice specialise in assisted living design and will be working with the CSG and members of the project team in the coming months to develop the designs for Russell Road’s communal areas which represent Manchester’s rich LGBTQ+ history.

If you’re interested in becoming involved in this exciting project, the Community Steering Group is looking to expand its membership and particularly wants to expand the diversity and inclusion of the group. For more information on how you can get involved contact Adam Preston from LGBT Foundation at  adam.preston@lgbt.foundation    

Amy Davies from our Project Team recently spoke to Care Home Professional about the Russell Road Project and you can read the full interview here.

Thanks for your continued support and we look forward to starting on site shortly and sharing further news on developments at Russell Road as the project continues.

Pride in Ageing with the LGBT Foundation

Find out more about our Pride in Ageing programme for LGBTQ+ over 50s in Greater Manchester and Merseyside and Liverpool, which is funded by Barclays, Manchester City Council and Age Friendly Manchester.

Get involved or support our work here: http://lgbt.foundation/prideinageing