DIVA

Operations director Fiona Marshall Designer Fernando Safont Sub-editor

Which famous lesbian matches your vibe?

Take this quick and fun personality quiz to find out

30 years of DIVA

To commemorate our milestone anniversary, lez take a look at some iconic quotes from the faces who have graced our covers over the last three decades

Iz Hesketh

The actor talks joining the cast of Hollyoaks, telling trans stories, and the realities of performing drag

My secret sex diary

Sandy reveals what helped her get over her fear of having sex with the lights on AS TOLD TO ELLA GAUCI

Editor’s letter

This is the story of how DIVA changed

A letter from our publisher

I am beyond delighted to be writing my

You said it...

Instagram Our fave accounts this month @spillzdylz Happy

I thought I was a pillow princess...

…it turns out I’m a massive top

The power of queer joy

Many of us find life a bit of a struggle, and it’s no surprise. Even now (she says at 62, having come out at 19), queer people grapple to find their feet in an environment that encourages hate. This is why International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBLIT) on 17 May exists. It started as IDAHO but the list of phobias has been added to as the world finds new ways to stigmatise us.

Decoding my love for Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart altered my teenage self ’s brain chemistry. I realised this when I rediscovered my Pinterest account. I had a board dedicated to style inspiration. At least 60% of the images were of KStew. Looking at the collection my younger self had compiled was eye-opening. How had I not known I was gay all along!?

3 decades of DIVA

For 30 years this magazine has chronicled our community’s joy, pain and progress. But how far have we come really? And looking to the future, how much further is there to go?

DIVA’s guide to #LVW24

LESBIAN VISIBILITY WEEK

Butches in the wild

Let’s talk about how mainstream butch representation compares to and influences real life,

How to feel bi while dating a guy

It doesn’t matter to me if other people clock that I’m bisexual. What matters is how I feel

Your guide to online dating

(from a serial online dater)

My first DIVA

To celebrate our 30 year milestone, we asked you about popping your DIVA cherry

Shiver me timbers

Were the legendary pirate queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read lesbian lovers or just “ahoy there mateys”?

The erotic evolution of sapphic smut

the way we’ve been getting it on throughout literature

We want to screen to be seen

explains why this groundbreaking event is vital for our community

The making of a matriarchy

Pop -punk superstar girli talks queer rebellion, sapphic songs and creating space for us all to be free

Music

ALBUM Holly Lerski Sweet Decline The British Alt-Americana

Drive-Away Dolls

The stars of the must-see lesbian road trip comedythriller talk funny sex scenes and spying on hot neighbours

Chi with a C

ELLA GAUCI CATCHES UP with our favourite deadpan comic Lucia Keskin. They talk about her latest BBC show, failing her GCSEs, and Ronnie Mitchell from EastEnders

Why are MLM stories celebrated so much more than WLW ones?

Where are all the sapphics on TV? 

Screen

OUR TOP PICK: FILM Love Lies Bleeding Directed

Books

BOOK OF THE MONTH: NON-FICTION A Bookshop Of

In the shallows

Author Tanya Byrne opens up about writing the books she needed when she was a teenager and the power of queer joy

The joy of writing sex scenes...

...10 of them to be precise

On queerness and faith

I admit I’m feeling slightly daunted at the

Queer love at the end of the world

What was your worst sapphic breakup like? Now, imagine that it happened amid the literal end of the world. That’s exactly what occurs in Gabrielle Korn’s feminist speculative fiction novel, Yours For The Taking.

The surprisingly queer history of marriage

A decade on from the legalisation of same -sex marriage RACHAEL E LENNON REVEALS a much deeper history of LGBTQIA nuptials in the UK

Like mother, like daughter

Mother- daughter duo Jeannie and Libby open up about navigating the world as queer women from different generations BY ELLA GAUCI

“Wow, you pass so well”

NIC CROSARA SPEAKS to six trans+ people to explore the concept of “passing”

“Lesbian is a very bad word”

MUSIH TEDJI XAVIERE SHARES the heartbreaking true story that inspired her breathtaking new novel

GAY Paris

Your essential queer travel guide to the city of light

Trans lesbian in the city

Whatever label we identify with, we all have better visibility when we come together, SAYS BOBBI PICKARD

Emails & solitaire

Every coming out story is unique, SAYS CARINA MAGGAR

All aboard Virgin Voyages

LINDA RILEY EXPLORES the cruising company at the helm of LGBTQIA inclusivity

The power of queer friendship

ALI HENDRY on the importance of nurturing our platonic relationships

Legally lesbian

JACQUI RHULE-DAGHER on becoming the role model she needed to see

Busting queer sex myths

Three sexperts are here to dismantle the rampant misinformation

How period sex changed my life

What I’ve learned from being more vulnerable and open to intimacy during menstruation BY INDIGO SAPPHIRE MOON

My libido and me

Can you have quantity and quality when it comes to sex? ASKS FERN V

Sexy bits

TOY Satisfyer Pro 2 Classic Blossom Are you