Mandela trumps Kylie in Gay Icons show

Move over Judy Garland, Dusty Springfield and Kylie Minogue. The latest gay icons include Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou and Princesss Diana, if a survey of high-profile homosexuals is anything to go by.
 
Sir Elton John, Sir Ian McKellen and Britain's first self-admitted gay politician, Chris Smith, are among those to have selected 60 of their most inspirational figures for a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
 
Broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, who chaired the 10-strong panel, promised the show would debunk the cliche of gay icons as merely fabulous divas, tragic actresses or raging drag queens. "I do think people are going to be terribly surprised by the names on this list. They are personal choices and the selectors have found inspiration in different places."
 
Former Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King chose South Africa's first black president as one of her idols, along with Althea Gibson, the first black woman to win a grand slam tennis tournament. The actor Sir Ian McKellen picked the assassinated San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk while Labour peer Lord Waheed Ali plumped for Diana, Princess of Wales.

Elton John chose two straight men - his writing partner Bernie Taupin and acclaimed cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. More predictable choices included the writers Quentin Crisp and Virginia Woolf and Pop Idol singer Will Young.
 
Gay Icons opens in early July. ·