[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/in-celebration-and-memory-of-lgbtq-icon-paul-ogrady\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/in-celebration-and-memory-of-lgbtq-icon-paul-ogrady\/","headline":"In celebration and memory of LGBTQ+ icon Paul O\u2019Grady","name":"In celebration and memory of LGBTQ+ icon Paul O\u2019Grady","description":"The global queer community is sharing an outpouring of memories and gratitude to O\u2019Grady, whose LGBTQ+ activism and representation of drag changed the landscape of British culture. ","datePublished":"2023-03-29","dateModified":"2023-03-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/marley\/#Person","name":"Marley Madding","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/marley\/","identifier":12421,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e150567506b1f5b751e2885fa5be7446c095593a181345e8ec7cb49e9e437c89?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e150567506b1f5b751e2885fa5be7446c095593a181345e8ec7cb49e9e437c89?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Equally Wed","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","url":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","width":218,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/0_paulPNG.jpg","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/0_paulPNG.jpg","height":1350,"width":1800},"url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/in-celebration-and-memory-of-lgbtq-icon-paul-ogrady\/","about":["News"],"wordCount":559,"keywords":["celebrity news","drag queens","Paul O'Grady"],"articleBody":"Paul O\u2019Grady, the British comedian and presenter known for his trailblazing drag act Lily Savage, passed away Tuesday evening at age 67.\u2060 \u201cHe will be greatly missed by his loved ones, friends, family, animals, and all those who enjoyed his humor, wit and compassion,\u201d his husband, ballet dancer Andre Portasio, paid tribute in a statement.The husbands became partners in 2005, marrying in 2017 at the Goring Hotel in London. O\u2019Grady shared that he hadn\u2019t considered marrying Portasio until fellow comic Julian Clary mentioned the possibility. \u201cJulian put the seed in my head. He said, \u2018I\u2019ve got married. You should.\u2019 And he\u2019s right, then you protect your partner,\u201d O\u2019Grady told The Mirror. \u201cIf anything happens to me, he is pro\u00ad\u00adtected. It makes sense.\u201d View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lifestyle (@andre_portasio)The global queer community is sharing an outpouring of memories and gratitude to O\u2019Grady, whose LGBTQ+ activism and representation of drag changed the landscape of British culture. As a television personality rising to popularity in the 1980s and \u201990s, O\u2019Grady was featured in numerous game and chat shows, such The Paul O\u2019Grady Show and Blind Date, as well as ITV\u2019s multi-award-winning program For The Love Of Dogs. The most iconic facet of O\u2019Grady\u2019s career, however, was his hilarious, foul-mouthed drag queen persona, Lily Savage, whose wild popularity in mainstream media O\u2019Grady used to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ causes in the wake of the AIDS crisis.A trailblazer. Truly one of the first to make drag mainstream and to liberate the rest of the community in the process. Rest in peace Paul O\u2019Grady. pic.twitter.com\/hsE2aVndPn\u2014 Jacob \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@OhHeyJacob) March 29, 2023A longtime staple of the London gay scene, O\u2019Grady brought visibility to the art of drag and LGBTQ+ culture more broadly, becoming a national treasure through television screens across the United Kingdom. In a BBC Breakfast interview, Danny Beard, winner of the fourth series of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race UK, calls O\u2019Grady \u201cthe most important person in British culture for drag, for the queer community. This is a really sad loss today.\u201dAs Lily Savage in the 80s and 90s Paul O\u2019Grady was a really important performer and activist in the fight against AIDS and inadequate AIDS healthcare. Lily Savage did numerous benefit gigs that most people will never know about, including 2 in Belfast. Drag queens for life. pic.twitter.com\/uLb27VxEZd\u2014 tom (@tomrade_) March 29, 2023In a BBC article, drag artist Copper Topp commended O\u2019Grady\u2019s staunch participation in speaking out against anti-LGBTQ+ police violence and the brutality of inadequate healthcare for HIV\/AIDS patients: “It must have been such a hard time to live with that going on. From the police raids in the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, to then becoming a primetime TV household name\u2013 she was a face for a whole generation of queer people, and she still is.”Paul O\u2019Grady was in the trenches fighting for our community during the HIV & AIDS epidemic, she took drag mainstream, she made our mums howl with laughter and normalised gay people on TV by being utterly vile. I can\u2019t imagine a world without her. A truly brave and hilarious man x pic.twitter.com\/Zf5ABmg9J7— James Barr (@imjamesbarr) March 29, 2023 "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"In celebration and memory of LGBTQ+ icon Paul O\u2019Grady","item":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/in-celebration-and-memory-of-lgbtq-icon-paul-ogrady\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]