17 women in history who were not shy about their orientation

If you think that open gays and lesbians are relatively recent, think again. We invite you to get acquainted with historical female figures who were not at all embarrassed by their non-traditional sexual orientation. Some of them participated in the fight for women's rights. And others simply wanted to spit on social conventions and did what they pleased.

Tallulah Bankhead is an American bisexual actress who was credited with romances with Greta Garbo, Billie Holiday and Marlene Dietrich. Another famous American actress, Patsy Kelly, claimed that she had a sexual relationship with Tallulah Bankhead. In 1933, Bankhead nearly died from an operation to remove her uterus while being treated for a sexually transmitted disease. After all she had experienced, she told the doctor: "Don't think that this has taught me anything."

This British landowner kept detailed encrypted diaries, where she described in detail her personal life. Her first connection was with a high school friend named Eliza Rain. And after that, she had an affair with classmate Mariana Balcomb. Anne Lister then "married" (although the marriage was not considered legal) a wealthy heiress named Ann Walker. This marriage caused a real scandal in high society. But both ladies were rich and could do whatever they wanted, so they didn't care.

Gladys Bentley was a blues artist during the Harlem renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. She went on stage as an open lesbian dressed up as a man. And later, a choir of men dressed as women joined her. In her shows, she invented her own (much more smutty) lyrics to popular songs and sang them to the women in the audience in a sexy and deep voice.

After her husband left her, Snell dressed up as a man and went to the Navy. She served there from 1745 to 1750. When she was in Carlisle during an exercise, she was asked to find a prostitute for the commander, but ended up sleeping with her herself. Hannah Snell also slept with several women in Lisbon when her ship was at the local port.

Jo Carstairs was the British daughter of a wealthy American heiress. She was born in Mayfair in 1903. Jo used her legacy to build a career as a world-class powerboat racer. She was openly lesbian, dressed like a man, and was in a relationship with Dolly Wilde, Oscar Wilde's niece. Together they lived for some time in Paris. In addition, Joe Carstairs had affairs with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead, already familiar to us.

Alla Nazimova is an incredibly beautiful silent film star and theater actress who openly had relationships with other women. She hosted lavish and sexually explicit parties at her mansion on Sunset Boulevard. To describe the secret meetings of lesbians and bisexuals in Hollywood, with whom she had numerous novels, Alla used the phrase "cutting and sewing circle." Nazimova lived with actress Gleska Marshall from 1929 until her death.

Ruth Ellis was the oldest known open lesbian when she died at the age of 100. She came out at 16, graduated from high school despite hard times, and started a successful printing business. In the 1920s, she met her partner Cecilyn, with whom they were together for 30 years. Their home in Detroit has become a welcoming haven for African-American gays and lesbians.

Barney is an American playwright. She lived in Paris, opposed monogamy, and had affairs with famous women of her era, including the writer Elisabeth de Gramont, the Countess of Clermont-Tonnerre, and Dolly Wilde, Oscar Wilde's niece. The world of lesbians in those days was very small.

She is probably best remembered for her affair with writer Virginia Woolf. But the English poet Vita Sackville-West had an even more passionate relationship with her friend Violet Trefusis. Their testimony is the passionate correspondence between women. Several times they ran away together, once - to Paris, and raised a fair amount of scandal. Mistresses also forbade each other to sleep with their own husbands.

This Parisian clown and entertainer performed regularly at the Moulin Rouge in the 1890s. The artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was very fond of depicting her in his illustrations. He painted several intimate scenes in which Cha-u-Kao is depicted with her mistresses. It is believed that he admired her self-confidence, the fact that she did not hide her homosexuality at all, and her choice in favor of the male profession of a clown.

Roberta Cowell was an RAF fighter pilot during World War II. She was also a racing driver who participated in the Grand Prix. She was born a male and was one of the first to undergo sex reassignment surgery. This happened way back in 1951. After the operation, she was no longer allowed to compete in Grand Prix car racing. But she continued to train hard and won the Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb in 1957.

The Ladies of Llangollen are two Irish aristocrats, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, who ran away from their wealthy homes as teenagers. Together they nestled in a Welsh mansion and devoted their lives to academic research and horticulture. Gradually they began to be talked about, and such writers as Byron and Shelley, as well as Anna Lister, whom we already know, came to visit them.

Audrey Lord is an African American writer and civil rights activist. She was an unabashedly open lesbian and dedicated her life to fighting the problem of racism in the feminist movement. She did not hide her views and was not afraid of open conflicts with famous feminists. Because of this, some called her an outsider, but Audrey refused to be silent and give up.

Mary Benson was a famous hostess and society lady who married the Archbishop of Canterbury. She also had numerous affairs with women. For 4 years she was in a relationship with a young and pretty girl composer Ethel Smith, who also met Mary Benson's daughter, Nellie. What did mother do? She generously yielded to her daughter.

Jane Addams was an influential figure in the American suffragette movement. During her life, she was romantically involved with women several times. One of her most famous novels is with Mary Rosette Smith, with whom they lived together. They constantly wrote letters to each other when they were apart. Judging by the correspondence, there was a relationship between them like a loving married couple.

Oona Trowbridge was a talented artist and the partner of an even more famous lesbian writer, Radcliffe Hall (pictured right). When they met, Hall was dating Throwbridge's aunt, Mbel Button, but after her death, Una and Radcliffe Hall became close. They made no secret of the fact that they lived together, and their romance lasted until Hall's death in 1943. But in 1934 their relationship was in jeopardy when Hall began an affair with a Russian nurse, Yevgenia Sulina.

Mercedes de Acosta is an American poet and novelist of Spanish origin. She is best known for her passionate, vibrant and long-lasting romance with Greta Garbo. De Acosta also did not hesitate to achieve success in Hollywood through bed in the era of silent films, was associated with the Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina. De Acosta is credited with the phrase: "I can steal any woman from any man."