Tonight:
4°c
Is Mary Queen of Shops set to tie the knot? Last week gossip columns speculated that fashion guru Mary Portas, 49, plans to "marry" her 37-year-old partner, Grazia journalist Melanie Rickey.
Portas, best known for her BBC shop-revamp series, first met Rickey seven years ago after an amicable split from her husband of 15 years.
The couple live in Maida Vale, with Portas's two teenage children.
Meanwhile, all of London is fascinated with Jeanette Winterson's love life.
Of particular interest is the novelist's close friendship with Susie Orbach, the feminist psychotherapist who has just ended her 30-year marriage.
The attention is hardly surprising given Winterson's track record: former partners have included some of the most brilliant, influential women of her generation: theatre director Deborah Warner, late literary agent Pat Kavanagh (wife of novelist Julian Barnes) and author and critic Peggy Reynolds.
So why the sudden interest in rumours of the latest A-gay relationship? My theory is it's not just a vicarious thrill.
We're jealous. A new generation of rich, successful gay women are smashing stereotypes with their glamour and spending power. These Power Lesbians simply have a nicer life than the rest of us.
The perks are evident - uncomplicated sex and great conversation, financial independence, foreign travel, probably a second home in the country, plus an introduction to the movers and shakers of London society.
In defiance of the stereotypical male earner and his stay-at-home-with-the-kids wife, still prevalent among the middle classes, both lesbian partners are often influential in their own right: couples such as the BBC sports presenter Clare Balding and her partner, the radio newsreader Alice Arnold; or the novelists Joanna Briscoe and Charlotte Mendelson.
And thanks to advances in fertility treatment, these couples increasingly also have children, creating a whole new class of yummy mummies.
Briscoe and Mendelson have two children, while Five chief executive Dawn Airey has a small child with her partner, TV producer Jacquie Lawrence.
Where once lesbians saw money and luxury as taboo, they have become enthusiastic consumers. The pink pound is no longer just a male thing.
"The myth that lesbians don't spend a significant proportion of their monthly pay packet on travel, leisure, fashion and beauty products has been blown out of the water," said Jane Czyzselska, editor of lesbian glossy magazine Diva.
Winterson talks openly about owning a Georgian house in Spitalfields, a house in the Cotswolds and another in France, while novelist Sarah Waters has bought her girlfriend a flat around the corner from her house.
Many of us were stunned by the portfolio acquired by photographer Annie Leibovitz and the late writer Susan Sontag when it was revealed last week - including a house in upstate New York, a flat overlooking the Seine in Paris; a chef and housekeeper, a handyman brought in from Vermont, a yoga instructor, gardener and nanny.
Leibovitz also bought two adjoining houses in Greenwich Village, then had to buy the next-door property as well for $1.87 million after renovations led to damaging subsidence.
When couples such as chef Allegra McEvedy and Susi Smithers, or writer Ariel Levy and Amy Norquist, celebrate their partnerships the frocks are from Donna Karan, the champagne Cristal.
Like any elite group, London's Power Lesbians are often intimately connected.
Alice Arnold (now with Balding) used to date Sandi Toksvig.
Winterson's ex-partner, Deborah Warner, also lived with actress Fiona Shaw for a long time.
Since then Shaw has been involved with actress Saffron Burrows - they met acting in Jeanette Winterson play, PowerBook, at the National Theatre.
"In the past, we operated from a very small gene pool," laughs Chloe, a theatre manager.
"You still went on holiday with your ex-lover and their new girlfriend because there were very few openly gay women. You had to stay friends.
"Things are changing now because you don't have to stick in the same tight-knit circles."
Things have come a long way in the 12 years since US comedian Ellen DeGeneres had her TV show cancelled after she came out.
Now British gossip mags are totally sympathetic to the relationships of couples such as Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, or Beth Ditto and her girlfriend Freddie.
Lesbian culture has never been as visible and confident.
Phyllida Lloyd made millions from directing the hit movie, Mamma Mia! and Carol Ann Duffy is the new Poet Laureate. Both women are gay, out and proud.
There's no denying that the new A-gay couples - wealthy, cosmopolitan, assured - are just a damn sight more fun than anyone else.
Reader views (10)
Uncomplicated sex and great conversation? Which lesbians have you been hanging around with? Any lesbian couple I know (including my mum and her partner) fight like cat and dog and, like any other couple, they don't always have the same sexual appetite. This article is actually quite offensive selling lesbianism as if it was low fat cheese - naughty but nice. It's two people sharing their lives. They go through the same as anyone else - strife, jealousy, redundancy, illness as well as shared joy like weddings, holidays, successes at work. It's belittling the relationship to suggest it's like two pals swapping wardrobe and make up tips. It's a much more serious commitment which holds you together when conversation and sex sometimes dry up. If it was two girls swapping tops, who would ever cozy up to Sandi Toksvig or Clare Balding? No offence girls...
- Aunty, Glasgow, 14/06/2010 09:59
Report abuse
Correct me if I am wrong, but is this article trying to say that lesbians are (all of a sudden) important because they earn & spend a lot?
"The myth that lesbians don't spend a significant proportion of their monthly pay packet on travel, leisure, fashion and beauty products has been blown out of the water,"
And what is the connection of Annie Leibovitz's sexual preferences and owning a property portfolio?
Why does a part of society only become important for this newspaper when their consumer power increase??
- B, London, 08/06/2010 14:26
Report abuse
Every so often there's an article like this, as if glamorous lesbians are a new thing. They're not, but they are growing in numbers! Sexism keeps women down and their self esteem low. Some of us grew up with a sense that we do not deserve to get what we want and we just have to do what's expect of us (e.g. marry a bore like Albert Hall). Things are changing though and gay women are realising that if they 'desire' women then they deserve to be with a woman rather than suppress their needs. More lesbians equals more glamarous ones!
- Maria Barnes, London, 27/08/2009 15:41
Report abuse
What is so earth shattering about announcing you are a lesbian. Any farmer will tell you cows do it when there is not a bull around.
- Albert Hall, hove england
It's about as Earth shattering as your belief that women become lesbians simply because there aren't any men available.
- Aimee, Brimingham, 26/08/2009 22:44
Report abuse
we ARE the small circle rarely spoken about. in some ways, its good to have that "peek" into our lives and, "what we may or may not spend on".
yes, most cosumer advocates are beginning to realize that there is a spending force within the GLBTQueer market place, and if they can "tap" into it, the estmated force is calculated at the billions.
and, the time is ours. we all, in our own right, are power people and we all do agree on one thing: OUR TIME IS NOW.
- Lucee, washington (below b.c., canada) USA, 26/08/2009 06:12
Report abuse
I 'do it' because I am a gay woman - not because there aren't any bulls around. I always thought the Albert Hall needed a bit of updating.
- Ej, london, 25/08/2009 19:46
Report abuse
NIce to see that "talking openly" about owning three homes is now somehow considered more controversial than talking about bedroom preferences. Progress, at last!
- Karli, London, 25/08/2009 16:15
Report abuse
The key link between these women is not their sexuality, though of course that is perhaps the most titillating aspect, it is their talent and cleverness. They are not rich because they sleep with other women, they are rich because they are successful in other ways!
- Judith Dawson, LONDON, 25/08/2009 10:38
Report abuse
Melanie Rickey and Mary Portas great together!
- David, essex, 25/08/2009 09:28
Report abuse
What is so earth shattering about announcing you are a lesbian. Any farmer will tell you cows do it when there is not a bull around.
- Albert Hall, hove england, 25/08/2009 09:07
Report abuse
