Gay icon Kensington of AIDS-related illnesses (bronchial pneumonia). Artists particularly embraced by the gay community during the 1980s included Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle, Alaska, Charo, Dolly Parton, Elaine Paige, Amanda Lear, Prince and Mylène Farmer. Several Britons were seen as gay icons, including singers Boy George, David Bowie, George Michael, Morrissey, Pet Shop Boys, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, and writer Quentin Crisp. Elton John also became a gay icon during this decade, a status strengthened throughout the years. Diana Ross, a long time gay icon, of The Supremes; released a song I'm Coming Out which brought a significance to the phrase of
Sharon White (civil servant) Sharon White (civil servant) Sharon Michele White (born 21 April 1967) is a British civil servant. She had a variety of roles in the British civil service, and was Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury from 2013 to 2015. She has been the chief executive of the British media regulator Ofcom since March 2015. She was the first black person, and the second woman, to become a Permanent Secretary at the Treasury. White was born in east London and brought up in Leyton where she attended a comprehensive school. Her parents emigrated to the UK from Jamaica in the 1950s,