Feminism turned me into lesbian

Hetero woman: Feminism turned me into lesbian
'I'd had a very happy marriage and a very good relationship with men'

A 53-year-old university professor and campaigner for legalized same-sex marriage in the UK said she was once a married "happy heterosexual" who had no doubts about her sexual orientation, but political activity and involvement in feminist causes "changed" her into a lesbian.

Sue Wilkinson, professor of Feminist and Health Studies at Loughborough University, told the London Times that her 17-year marriage to her husband had been a good one.

But that changed in the mid-1980s when the young professor became involved with the British Psychological Society.

"I was never unsure about my sexuality throughout my teens or 20s. I was a happy heterosexual and had no doubts," said Wilkinson.

"Then I changed, through political activity and feminism, spending time with women's organizations. It opened my mind to the possibility of a lesbian identity."

Wilkinson divorced her husband and has lived with her partner, Prof. Celia Kitzinger of York University, for the past 17 years.

"I'd had a very happy marriage and a very good relationship with men," she said. "My husband took it very badly."

In 2003, the two women married in Vancouver, Canada, where same-sex unions are legal. A change in UK law in 2005 recognized their Canadian ceremony as a civil union, but not marriage.