Jimmy Sommerville, by Andi Fraggs.

To end LGBT History Month, 2013, singer-songwriter Andi Fraggs rounds out the LGBT Heroes series.

“I was frantically searching for something I could relate to. There was nothing until one day I ventured into a second hand shop and there was a big pink triangle on the front of the Bronski Beat album.”

Ani DiFranco, ‘Both Hands’.

To end LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked the singer-songwriter Sabrina Chap to recall a song important to her.

“I knew that Ani sometimes slept with girls, but part of the thrill of the song was that there was no gender to the person she was talking about – it could have been anyone.”

Hans & Sophie Scholl, by Christopher Bryant.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“Hans was arrested in November 1937, and in June 1938 tried under under section 175a of the German Criminal Code. Hans faced expulsion from the Army, and banishment to a concentration camp to wear a pink triangle.”

Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington, ‘Mack The Knife’.

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“I didn’t just learn about the Civil Rights movement in the US, but of the context of R ‘n’ B and Jazz and some of its hidden language too. That’s when I first learnt about ‘gay’ too.”

Jim Akers, by Bryon Fear.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“My preconceptions about HIV, formed out of the terrorizing poster campaigns in the ‘80s, were shattered. Jim’s blog gave HIV a human face and not only for me.”

RuPaul, ‘Jealous Of My Boogie’.

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“Sharing the stage with three very fierce and fabulous queens isn’t always easy, we’ve got a lot of ideas, energy and body-awdy to fit on one stage but it has been so fascinating for me to learn more about ‘becoming a woman’ from three beautiful men and three beautiful queens.”

Emperor Ai, by Christopher Bryant.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“Emperor Ai reinforced the idea of respect and consideration in an act that would reverberate throughout the history of Imperial China.”

Bronski Beat, ‘Smalltown Boy’.

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“I understood why Bronski Beat were becoming the spokesmen for gay men everywhere. They gave voice to the heart, to shared experiences and feelings.”

Hans Christian Andersen, by Bryon Fear.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“Hans Christian Andersen’s legacy is very much defined by his life as an ‘other’. He took the tradition of folk tales and elevated them into literature that has inspired a wealth of art, theatre, ballet and many many films, one of which saved the Disney empire from bankruptcy.”

Marc and the Mambas, ‘Torment & Toreros’.

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“Marc once described Torment & Toreros as ‘a nervous breakdown committed to vinyl’. Thirty years on, Torment & Toreros still invokes memories of that day – and sometimes even makes me shed a tear for the boy I once was.”