Tributes have been paid to Maureen Colquhoun, the UK’s first openly lesbian MP, who has died at 92. The former Labour politician represented Northampton North during her five years in parliament between 1974 and 1979 and was a prominent campaigner on access to abortion, gender balance, and protection for sex workers. She saw off efforts by some party members in her constituency to deselect her as a candidate for the next general election after the Daily Mail revealed she was in a relationship with a woman. In an article for Gay News in 1977, Colquhoun said her sexuality had “nothing whatever to do with my ability to do my job as an MP”. She said she had always been open about her relationship and that “gay relationships were as valid and as entitled to respect as any other relationship”. Her appeal against the move was upheld, but she lost her seat to a Conservative candidate in 1979. She then went on to work as an assistant to several other Labour MPs and also served on Hackney borough council before moving to the Lake District, where she served as a member of the National Park Authority for eight years. The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, called her “a champion of women’s rights” who “faced awful discrimination, including from within our party, but her courage paved the way for all those who came after”. Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, said Labour women had lost a “great sister” and noted that Colquhoun had “suffered great prejudice and indignity simply for being who she was”. She added: “The fortitude with which she withstood the abuse she received is testament to her strength of character … Her passing reminds us of the great sacrifices made by so many and our duty to recommit ourselves to the fight for true justice and equality for all.” The SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC wrote on Twitter: “So sad to hear this. RIP Maureen Colquhoun the first out lesbian MP who has died today at 92. She suffered appalling #Lesbophobia. Let’s not let the clock be put back any further than has happened already.” The writer and co-founder of Justice For Women, Julie Bindel, tweeted: “Major respect to Maureen. The very first gay (LESBIAN) MP, and yet forgotten and sidelined by so many. Almost erased from history. We owe her a huge debt of gratitude.” In the time she served as an MP, Colquhoun was one of fewer than 30 female MPs in parliament. An avowed feminist, she asked the speaker to refer to her as Ms rather than Miss in the Commons chamber and demanded creche facilities at the Labour party conference. She campaigned to abolish women’s prisons, liberalise abortion law and decriminalise prostitution, and introduced a number of high-profile bills which, while they were not passed into law, highlighted major social issues and prepared the ground for future reforms. Among them was the balance of sexes bill which sought equal representation for women on all public bodies, more than 170 of which she discovered were exclusively male during the mid-1970s. Though the bill didn’t pass, it marked a moment of great personal change for Colquhoun. In her 1980 autobiography, A Woman in the House, she reflected how this was the moment she decided to leave her husband and the father of her three children and move in with Barbara Todd, the editor of the lesbian magazine Sappho. The two met while working together on the bill. “By the time the house met to debate the second reading of the balance of the sexes bill, I knew that Babs loved me and she knew that I loved her,” Colquhoun wrote. Her death was announced as Parliament marks LGBT+ History month. LGBT+ Labour said: “We are truly sorry to hear about the passing of the UK’s first openly lesbian MP, Maureen Colquhoun, who represented Northampton North in the 1970s. A champion of women’s rights, she faced a hostile press when she was outed against her will. Her strength will be remembered.” The former Labour minister, Dame Angela Eagle, said: “This is very sad news. Maureen Colquhoun was a feminist pioneer and paved the way for all of us who came after her. RIP.”