Ziggy Stardust: Hang on to yourself

When David Bowie stepped onto the stage as Ziggy Stardust in 1972, one of the world's greatest gay icons was born and the rulebooks were forever rewritten. Ziggy liberated the gay, the bisexual and the androgyne. Bowie was not an activist in the traditional sense but he helped give voice to disenfranchised subcultures in society. To mark the 50th anniversary of Bowie's iconic creation, a host of LGBTQ+ voices and campaigners explain how Ziggy Stardust, inspired a generation of people to celebrate their own self-actualisation, redefining sexuality and setting the groundwork for activism that continues today.

(Photo: David Bowie, 1973 final show of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Hammersmith Odeon, London. Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage)