Katherine Gillespie Sells
Encyclopedia
Katherine 'Kath' Gillespie Sells is a psychotherapist, writer, disability rights campaignger and LGBT rights campaigner from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. She founded REGARD, a national, volunteer run organisation of disabled lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people.

Sells became disabled as a result of a splinter in the finger, which led to septicaemia a coma for several days and the loss of the finger. This led to arachnoiditis
Arachnoiditis
Arachnoiditis is a neuropathic disease caused by the inflammation of the arachnoid, one of the membranes that surround and protect the nerves of the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord...

 and she eventually needed to use a wheelchair. She has three sons, one of which is the singer and songwriter Dan Gillespie Sells
Dan Gillespie Sells
Daniel Giles Gillespie Sells is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known as being the lead vocalist and frontman for the pop band, The Feeling.-Biography:...

. Her marriage ended while her first two children were very young and she came out as a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, raising her children with her now ex-partner Dilis, who was the biological mother of another son, and coparenting
Coparenting
Coparenting or co-parenting describes a parenting situation where the parents are not in a marriage, cohabitation or romantic relationship with one another.-Post-separation coparenting:...

 with her ex-husband.

She was nominated as a Stonewall
Stonewall
The word Stonewall may refer to* a stone wall* a verb meaning "to refuse to cooperate, especially in supplying information" -Games and entertainment:* "Stonewall structure" of pawns in the chess opening theory:** Stonewall Attack...

 Hero of the Year 2010.

In 2011 she was awarded the MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

for services to Disabled Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

External links

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