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LGBTQ+ speakers and partners Adele Roberts, Kate Holderness are proud members of the LGBTQ+ community and use their professional and personal time to advocate for those in the community who do not feel accepted. They are both strong campaigners for diversity, equality and inclusion in all areas, but particularly in the media.
Adele Roberts is a much-loved British radio broadcaster, TV presenter and DJ, and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community alongside her partner Kate Holderness who, together, promote the increase of lesbian representation in the media. In 2021, Adele was diagnosed with stage two bowel cancer; since then, she has made it her mission to raise awareness of the illness and promote wearing a stoma bag as a necessity and not an embarrassment.
Kate Holderness is a British actor appearing in a range of television shows and movies over two decades. She has acted in programmes including Emmerdale (2002-2018), Elizabeth I (2017), Henry VIII and His Six Wives (2016), Coronation Street (2013) and Heartbeat (2003), as well as appearing as a guest on Celebrity Coach Trip (2020) and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here (2019) – both of which she appeared alongside Adele.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Kate’s acting work slowed, and she turned to writing, working predominately on a children’s adventure novel titled The Full Moon Society, which The London Library chose for their Emerging Writers Programme. She is also a keen illustrator, with her drawings featuring in James King’s book Whoa! Be More Keanu (2020). One of her illustrations was chosen as the cover image of The Guardian newspaper’s supplement for Lesbian Visibility Week.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book LGBTQ+ Speakers Adele Roberts and Kate Holderness for your next event.
Adele Roberts and Kate Holderness and Bowel Cancer
Adele often says it is Kate who helped her through her bowel cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment and surgery:
“It sounds strange but it’s brought us closer than ever. I’ve always loved Kate, but since my diagnosis I’ve seen a different side to her. She’s my counsellor, my mentor and the best nurse ever. She helped me when I could barely walk and had to shuffle into work at Radio 1. She’s my absolute hero.”
Together, they have a social media following of almost 400,000 and frequently post videos documenting their cancer journey.
In 2020, Adele and Kate were featured on Huffpost: My Pride Anthems, where they shared their own Pride month music playlists. In relation to one song they chose by fan-named ‘Lesbian Jesus’ Hayley Kiyoko, Kate said:
“For me personally, I don’t think I had LGBTQ role models growing up, so I was frightened for a long time of coming out, because I thought I was weird, I didn’t realise I was normal. So I hope Hayley can be that person for the youth of today.”
The couple also appeared on the podcast A Gay and a Non-Gay in 2021 to mark Pride Month, where they spoke about being proud, overcoming shyness, being yourself, and debunking lesbian stereotypes.