Lisa Power


Lisa Power MBE is a British sexual health and LGBT rights campaigner. She worked at the Lesbian & Gay Switchboard and International Lesbian and Gay Association. She co-founded the Pink Paper and Stonewall, becoming policy director at the Terrence Higgins Trust. She was the first openly LGBT person to speak at the United Nations and continues to work as a LGBTIQ activist in Wales with groups such as National Museum Cardiff and Pride Cymru.

Early life

Power was born in 1954. She came out as lesbian in 1970s in a time when homosexuality was still controversial in British society. She worked at the Lesbian & Gay Switchboard in London. At the switchboard, she started to take calls about a mystery illness which became known as GRID and later HIV/AIDS. She then set up the National AIDS Helpline and worked for Hackney Council as HIV policy officer.

Career

Power became Secretary-General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association in 1988 and then helped to set up the Pink Paper. She co-founded Stonewall in 1989 and subsequently was the policy director of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
In 1991, Power was the first openly LGBT person to speak about gay rights at the United Nations in New York. She received the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for her services to the LGBT community and was named on the 2017 Pinc List of leading Welsh LGBT figures.
In 2020, she collaborated with National Museum Cardiff and curator Dan Vo on a program called "Queer Tours", which aimed to uncover hidden LGBTQ histories in Cardiff. She is also the Organiser for Pride History Month at Pride Cymru, chairperson of the HIV Justice Network and a trustee the planned Queer Britain museum. On International Women's Day 2020, Power commented "Women are raised with an inner voice of self doubt; tell yours to shut up and let you have a go".

Selected works