While the subject of same-sex relationships has been taboo for most of history and practically unheard of between women, you'd be surprised at how many iconic female figures have been discovered to be queer - even if they haven't been so open about it in their lifetimes...
1. Virginia Woolf
While she was married to Leonard Woolf, Virginia had an affair with another author named Vita Sackville-West. Both of their husbands knew about it (indeed, Vita's husband was also bisexual) and were apparently comfortable with the situation. The relationship would inspire Woolf's 1928 novel Orlando.
2. Colette
Best known for her Claudine stories, a large chunk of her work was written under her husband's name. Henry Gauthier-Villars introduced her to various artistic circles and was encouraging of her affairs with woman. However, she went on to divorce her husband after he refused to allow her to publish under her own name, and she embarked on several same-sex relationships. Keira Knightley plays the writer in a biopic released this year.
3. Florence Nightingale
Considering she was such an important figure for female employment, this Crimean war nurse was rather vocal about her opposition to early women's rights activists. Nonetheless, the Lady with the Lamp is rumoured to have been in love with three women according to the biography Superstars: Twelve Lesbians Who Changed the World, including her cousin Marianna Nicholson. However, there's no concrete evidence that she ever had a relationship with anyone, and many historians disagree with this translation of her life.
4. Emily Dickinson
Yet another female writer rumoured to have had lesbian romances. Though given that she spent much of her life in isolation from the world, it's difficult to say what came of her love life. Many literary critics still believe that she was in a sexual relationship with her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson, and that many of her poems reflected that.
5. Eleanor Roosevelt
There is a lot of debate about whether or not this First Lady was in a sexual relationship with reporter Lorena Hickok, but those who believe so cite a series of letters between the pair that contained such passages as "I want to put my arms around you and kiss you at the corner of your mouth". Eleanor even allegedly wore a ring that Lorena gave her at her husband's inauguration.
6. Billie Holiday
While the 20th century did bring more open-mindedness about sexuality than in the past, it still might surprise you to know that Billie Holiday was openly bisexual throughout her career. She allegedly had lesbian relationships while in prison on drug charges, and is even thought to have dated Hollywood actress Tallulah Bankhead.
7. Frida Kahlo
This iconic Mexican artist was married to Diego Rivera though both had extramarital affairs. One of Frida's affairs was with American entertainer Josephine Baker after the pair met in Paris, and others include the painter Georgia O'Keeffe, and actresses Dolores del Río and Paulette Goddard.
8. Marlene Dietrich
Now considered a lesbian icon, German performer Marlene Dietrich was openly bisexual with a love for the gay scene of 1920s Berlin. While married to director Rudolf Sieber, she had a string of affairs with both other men and women - with one of them rumoured to be Greta Garbo (though most believe that there was an intense rivalry between the two women).
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9. Sappho
You could consider this ancient Greek poet to be the original lesbian; indeed, the words "sapphic" and "lesbian" derive from both her name and her home island of Lesbos respectively. While much of her work describes eroticism between women, some have claimed that there is in fact no evidence that she ever actually had sexual affairs with women.
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